Dragon of a Different Kind
by DarkNaruto101
Summary: He had always felt out of place, going through the motions of each day without change. There were times where he wished he could change the pace. Now he just wished he hadn't gotten into that van, that she hadn't entered their peaceful life and messed it all up. Now he had to bare the burden of what he knew. He would fight and he would make sure no more of his friends died.
1. Life 1: Beginnings

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or High School DXD. Most character in this story, with the exception of OC creations, belong to their respective authors. Please respect their property rights and ownerships!**

* * *

Chapter 1: Beginnings

When people wake up to the sound of an alarm, most people have varying reactions of the some kind but generally fall into one category or another. Some people are morning people, able to get up and start their day as easy as breathing. They loved the morning and the sun that rises each morning with it, always in a chipper mood if unheeded by a problem of some kind. Some people could grunt and groan but get up none the less, neither cursing nor loving the light of life. And then you just had to people who just could not get up at all period. They wanted nothing to do with the mornings and believed the best time to get up was around noon.

Naruto Tachibana fell into none of these categories. When he woke up he stared at the smooth orange ceiling, the light from the earth's favorite star splaying across and highlighting it beautifully. He looked up at it as though he were numb, a feeling he had felt every morning for as long as he could remember. He would almost call it as familiar as meeting an old friend if he had enjoyed the feeling. To Naruto, it sickened him to no end but he had long learned to ignore the feeling.

It was during this usual morning occurrence that he ended up pondering something. Throughout his life there had been times when the young man had wondered if something were missing from his life; if there was something he were supposed to be doing differently that he was not doing already. It was something that he had come to ponder each and every morning to no avail. And when he did, he reached the same conclusion he did each of those other times.

Everything is alright. There is nothing wrong with the world and everything is as it should be. It's just you and your imagination.

And it was then he wondered if others his age had ever asked the same question to themselves that he did on a regular basis. Were he stupid enough he probably would have already asked by now and more likely than not gotten strange looks in response. After all, what teenager thinks this way anyway? Most people his age went on with much of a care in the world with the exception of some school tests here and there. It was a fact that most adults that he knew always complained about whenever possible, about how his generation was "to careless" and "not thoughtful enough of the ever changing social climate." It was rather annoying of them to continue to point out continuously.

It was usually with these thoughts running ramped in his mind that Naruto started his morning. Every morning it was the same thing over and over again for as long as he could remember. There had been no change in his usual morning routine and some days he wished something strange would happen just to change it up a little bit. He wished that something odd would happen that would make his morning slightly more exciting and not so… boring.

However, ignoring his wish for a change once again, Naruto began his morning rituals. Naruto removed the sheets his mother had claimed were "just so orange they're tacky" and began his morning rituals. Walking over to the closet near his desk, Naruto pulled out the standard uniform of the school he attended and began the process of putting on the white collared button up shirt. After making everything was cuffed properly he put on a black tie, his sign of protesting the ribbons they made the male student wear like they did the females. After pulling up his pants he placed his favorite pair of aviator goggles on his head and threw his blazer over his shoulder, grabbing his bag as he walked out the door.

As the young spiky haired blonde got to the stairs, he took a waft of the sweet smell in the air and walked down. That smell in the air was fairly familiar to him. It meant his mother was making a western styled breakfast today, something she did not do very often. Despite growing up in Japan, he had always enjoyed western styled food a little bit more than the traditional Japanese breakfast and the few times his mother made it he could truly felt genuinely excited.

As he entered the kitchen, he noticed his mother standing over the stove, her brown hair swaying back and forth as she moved her head back in forth to the tune she was humming.

"Good morning mom," the blonde youth said brightly to her, pulling out a chair to sit at the table of their dining area. His mother, Hana Tachibana, a fair looking woman in her early forties, smiled at her son in response.

"Good morning to you as well, dear," she responded, returning her attention to what she was making on the stove. "How are you this morning?"

"Anguished over the fact that you didn't tell me that you were going to be making Pancakes this morning," he shouted in an attempt at feigned annoyance. It was a daily morning routine between his mother and him. His father, Norio, was usually up and gone by the time Naruto got up to go to school so most mornings it was just him and his mother. Since he was little, they had always had a relationship where they could joke around, especially since most kids avoided him like the plague due to him looking like, as some have put it, a "foreign American-looking Yakuza type with wicked looking scars on his cheeks." That was said despite his high grades and his rather calm disposition in most cases but, as his mother put it, people were always quick to believe in sensationalism.

It was due to him having few friends that he could talk to that the sort of relationship they had developed. His mother, the kind woman she was, was always there beside him to help pick him back up after kids said all the mean things they did about him. Whenever he had a problem, he knew he could always talk about it with mom and if it weren't for the fact he already had a best friend, he would have given her the title. Dad always did jokingly call him a momma's boy.

His mother, oblivious to his inner thoughts, giggled into her hand and did not even bother turning around as she addressed him. "I wanted it to be a surprise. You are supposed to be finding out the scores from your last round of testing aren't you?" She flipped the pancake as she pulled out a plate, prepping it to put the pancake and the bacon she made on it. "It's a good luck breakfast of sorts, you know."

Naruto snorted, leaning back into the blazer that hung off the back of his chair. "You know I don't need luck," he responded arrogantly with a small grin tugging on his lips. "I'm near the top of my class! I bet you I aced it!"

His mother turned around sharply. "Naruto Tachibana get off you're high horse," she admonished, shaking the spatula she held at him. "Just because you get good grades usually do not expect to always get them. You worked hard to get where you are but don't start acting arrogant now. Remember what you're father has told you. 'Remember, it may not always seem like it but…'"

"'… there is always someone better,'" he groaned in response as he finished reciting his father's favorite phrase. "Jeez, can't you just let me do it for once."

His mother smiled and stuck her tongue out at him through her smiling lips in a teasing gesture. "Nope," she said brightly, eyes closed. "I've got to keep my boy humble and honest!"

"Yeah, keep me humble and honest while the foods burning," Naruto grunted in response, allowing a small smile as he watched his mother quickly turn around and start to comically trying to salvage the burning breakfast. She really did know how to brighten his mornings, even if it was unintentional.

* * *

(A Little Later)

After finishing the half burned breakfast his mother had put in front of him with a sheepish smile, Naruto quickly ran out the door due to running late and still having to meet up with his friend. He ran actually quite quickly, faster than most people would be able to, as he sped down the street.

That was another thing about Naruto. Ever since he was young, Naruto had always had slightly better strength, speed, and overall agility than most people his age. In gym class he was quite easily able to keep up with people who trained on a daily basis. The school track coach had even once tried to recruit him under the banner of the team only to find out Naruto really was not all that interested in sports despite his abilities. Most people, like the ones who thought he was a foreign Yakuza, just chalked it up to the supposed "super-secret ninja yakuza training." He would always laugh at that one slightly regardless of the fact it made most people stay away from him more.

"Ah, shit, I'm late," came a cry from one of the people who fell outside of the most. As Naruto ran past, he was quickly joined, abate more slowly, by his best friend who was a rather thin young man with brown hair and brown eyes, his open uniform showing his red shirt swaying behind him slightly in the wind. When he noticed Naruto ahead of him, his eyes shot open in recognition. "Yo, Naruto!"

Naruto smiled at his best friend. "Late as well I see, eh Issei?"

Issei's face gained an angry tick. "Yeah because I spent time waiting for you this morning," he shot back angrily as he continued to run. "Where we're you? You're never late you blonde bastard!"

Naruto sweat dropped as he ran, chuckling sheepishly. "Yeah, well, mom kind of screwed up breakfast… again."

It was then Issei's turn to sweat drop, his eyes set into a deadpan stare. "You're mother wasn't paying attention again was she?" It may have come out as a question but they both knew that Issei already knew the answer. While Naruto's mom was a great cook, if she didn't pay attention things tended to burn a lot worse than what would happen for the average cook. In fact, when they were kids, Naruto's mom was distracted making breakfast once and ended up accidently lighting Naruto's father's hair on fire. To this day his father stayed as far away from his mom as possible when she was cooking.

"Well to be fair I did kind of distract her this morning." In reality, looking back on the situation, it was his own fault. Pushing that aside, Naruto arched his head back slightly to look at him as they ran, the school now visible in the distance. "By the way, remember that exam scores for the mid-term are being posted today. How do you think you did?" He saw his friend's sour expression and sighed. "Don't tell me you didn't study again."

"Well to be fair I was distracted," the brown haired boy said boldly.

"You were staring at some poor girls tits again, weren't you," the blonde asked, dreading the answer he already knew.

"Well they were quite the pair if I do say so."

"Issei," Naruto groaned.

"What, they just looked so lonely with no one looking at them. I think they wanted to feel needed, desired if you will, and the safety of a pair of breasts are more important than any stupid tests!"

Naruto almost tripped on that one and if he hadn't already known Issei's habits when it came to his desire of the female flesh then he probably would have actually tripped. Issei had been like this since they were around ten, when they had met a perverted man in the park who had explained to children about the joys of the female breast. At first the young blonde had kind of thought the man to be kind of crazy; the kind both his and Issei's mom had told both of them to stay away from. Looking back though Naruto could see why Issei was the way he was. The old man was really freaking persuasive. In fact he probably would have been the same as Issei had he not asked his mother about it when he got home.

It was kind of funny. After that event they had not heard hid or hair of the old man who had told them about the joys of breasts. The onetime he said something to his mother she gave him a dark smile and told him not to worry about "crummy old men like that lousy son of a…," trailing of slightly at the end as she mumbled to herself. He had never bothered asking her again.

The young blonde sighed at his friend's obsession. "You really need to stop obsessing man," Naruto shouted to his friend as they finally reached the school gate, stopping to let Issei catch his breath and pant while holding his stomach. "No girl is ever going to want to date you if you keep obsessing over their figure," he said as he ignored the looks they got from people walking into the academy.

Issei glared at him, looking up as his breathing slowed. "No way," he shouted the heavens for all the school to hear. "I won't stop until I suffocate in them after becoming harem king! It's why I came to Kuoh in the first place."

Naruto felt a drop of perspiration go down the back of his head even though he realized Issei did bring up a good point. Kuoh Academy, up until three years ago, was a famous all-girls school renowned for its high class education and bringing up great female leaders, some of whom had gone on to become major company owners. Everyone in the area wanted to send their daughters there and if it weren't for the fact that there were no student dorms they probably would have had students from all across japan come.

A few years ago however, the school board decided to begin admitting male students, ending the legacy of the once all female school and turning it into something new. Of course that did not mean it was immediately easy for students to get into. In fact they still had a rather rough examination process that most students had to go through to get in.

Naruto himself had decided he wanted to attend do to it being the closest school to his house, though the high class education also did it too. Any other school would have been a longer trek for him to do and quite frankly not something he felt like dealing with unless absolutely necessary.

Getting into the school was not as hard for him as it was for some others. The fact of the matter was that he was one of the smarter students in their grade already. He had really good grades to the point that even if he had not done all that well on the entrance Kuoh had still said they would reserve a spot for him. It was a rather nice gesture and something that was incredibly rare for a school to do for that matter. By the time the test came around he had already known he was going to end up at Kuoh. Issei on the other hand…

Issei's getting into Kuoh was kind of lucky if you asked Naruto. At their last school, during their first year, he had met Matsuda and Motohama, two boys who had a level of perversion that actually equaled Issei's, which he had never thought possible. Together, even in middle school, they became known the menaces to female society known only as the Perverted Trio. Unfortunately, due to becoming such, with the exception of Motohama, Issei and Matsuda had effectively become the some of the lowest scoring students in the school. When they had heard Kuoh was opening up their ranks to male students, they jumped to go there due to what would more likely than not be the high female to male ratio among students. So, in order to pick up their grades, Issei and Matsuda came to him to help them study to gain acceptance.

Now Naruto would have done anything for Issei. When they were kids he, their buddy Irina, and Naruto were best friends. They did everything together and even when Irina left he and Issei had remained best buddies. After all, despite his perverse nature, Issei was still a good friend to him and whenever people had been rude to him always helped him out. He would always have Naruto's respect and friendship. In fact Naruto was really happy Issei wanted to go to Kuoh, even when he had heard the reason why. Even if it was only a minor role, he had decided he would help his friend achieve his dream… while silently apologizing to the female population for what he was about to do.

Helping Matsuda on the other hand was another matter entirely and not something the blonde honestly felt keen on doing. Naruto did not really get along with Matsuda or Motohama. Unlike Issei, who was accepting of him, they had made fun of him for his lack of interest in the pleasures of the flesh since they had met him. It was different then the teasing he usually got about looking like a thug but it still pissed him off to no end. Add to the fact they only furthered Issei's corruption with their own breast obsession and Naruto just wanted him to get away from them. Unfortunately for him Issei was for some reason really good at begging and managed to convince him to tutor Matsuda too.

Naruto had to say that in the few weeks he tutored the two of them that they were truly dedicated to their studies. In fact he would have to say that it was the most he had ever seen Issei study. He and Matsuda studied hard, getting together with him every day after school to go over notes and concepts, doing extra practice materials he had found of them online, and even going so far as to do flash card reviews with him. He later was even more surprised to find out that they had sworn off porn just till they passed. He had never been more proud of his friend when he had found out that piece of information.

And when that test finally came around the two were thoroughly prepared. They managed to pass the tests and meet the requirements to get in. Naruto had been proud when he saw their scores… only to later regret what he had released on the world when the three perverts had started jumping up and down in excitement shouting about how they were going to become harem kings. In that moment he could feel all the women in the room glare at him simultaneously and he had heard in some circles of female friends that he was not spoken fondly of.

But despite Issei's proclamation about being the next harem king, Naruto could do nothing but chuckle at his friend's antics.

"You do realize," he began pointing out, "that no women will ever want to be in a harem, right? There would just be too many different dynamics, clashes of personality, and so many other problems that would come up. You would never be able to attend to them all."

Issei sighed at his friend, shaking his head in a manner as though he were trying to explain physics to a child. "Naruto, my friend, you just do not understand. Harem is not just for the sake of adding women to some collection! No, a harem is formed by the love of a man with multiple women who love him and would be willing to live with one another just to be with him! They will love me like I do them and do anything to be with me, even accept being in a harem." Issei grinned in satisfaction and pumped his fist in the air. "And when they do, it will be glorious!"

The blonde sweat dropped and would have commented on his friends speech were it not for the sound of the bell beginning to ring. He sighed to himself. "Come on Mr. 'Harem King,' we need to get to class." At that, the two friends ran into the school, not even noticing a pair of blue-green orbs staring at them as they made their way into the school.

* * *

(After School)

Naruto Tachibana liked to nap. More specifically, Naruto Tachibana liked to nap in the afternoon under one of the larger trees outside school. It was his favorite thing to do in the afternoon after a long day's work at school. He found the shade of the tree to be quite comfortable, especially with the wind lightly blowing past as he laid on the cool grass.

When Naruto first came here, due to his size and appearance, most clubs were not exactly willing to admit him due to the belief of him being some sort of yakuza. His height, which was taller than the average Japanese person at around five foot eight, and overall appearance did not at all help matters with encouraging people that he was, in fact, a good guy. So with that in mind, after trying to join clubs a few different times, he just eventually gave up on trying.

Eventually he found a routine he liked and that was lying down under the shaded tree and taking a well-deserved afternoon nap, listening to the sounds of rustling trees and the sounds of student athletes hard at work in the distant training area. Yup, there was nothing more he liked than his napping periods.

"Good afternoon Tachibana-san."

What he hated most, however, was when someone decided to interrupt that nap he was choosing to take. It happened every so often and when it did it usually ended up being the same person.

The spiky haired boy open an eye slightly and stared at the admittedly beautiful forms of the student council president Sona Shitori and her vice president Tsubaki Shinra, who was also an admitted beauty in her own right. Sona, the shorter haired girl with a bob-cut and traditional black hair, gave him a small smile as she stared down at him.

"Sona, Tsubaki," the blond grunted their names slightly, adjusting his body to another position now that they had woken him. "Lovely to see you." His tone had been slightly sarcastic but if either of them could tell they didn't acknowledge it. "And what can I do for you today, madam president?"

"I saw your test scores when they were posted," the black haired girl stated bluntly. "They were quite impressive. Top of the class in fact." The girl adjusted her glasses slightly, the light from the sun reflecting off the surface as her violet eyes peered through. "Congratulations."

Naruto raised the brow of his slightly opened eye and looked straight at her small cool smile. It was rather odd in fact.

The young blonde and the student council president had a rather interesting first meeting. The fact of the matter was they had barely known acknowledged that the other had existed until an incident that had occurred during his freshman year at the academy. She was one of the more popular students in Kuoh, actually holding the title of being third most popular. She also just happened to be the student council president, in fact the first one to be elected during their 2nd year, and was also one of the most popular girls in the school. Of course with everybody thinking him to be a yakuza he wasn't going to be known to them. With the exception of his grades he was in the bottom of the food chain like Issei and the rest of his perverted cohort.

However it was towards middle of his freshman year when their first, if a bit odd, meeting had occurred. While he was walking around campus, he had meet a black haired young looking girl. Two things about this girl stuck out about her: 1. She was jumping all over the place and 2. She looked like a magical girl. It was so strange he had begun to wonder why people in the area were basically ignoring it. He had almost managed to ignore it too until she started causing trouble. It was in the midst of the chaos that Naruto had seen the young student council president run up with the rest of the council and try and calm the girl down. Unfortunately for them the magical girl wannabe was not too keen on the idea of calming down and started shouting off stuff about "So-tan," her apparent name for the president, being mean to her.

It was in that moment Naruto thought two about two different courses of action he could take which essentially ended up being that he could do nothing and save himself the trouble of having to deal with the lunatic girl… or he could do something to try and help, putting himself under much unwanted scrutiny again. The latter was something he would have preferred to avoid if at all possible.

The idea of doing nothing though was taken off the table once he saw the fake magical girl literally knock out one of the student council members with her fake wand. In that moment Naruto decided it was time to do something. He walked up behind her and smacked her on the back of the head, almost mortifying Sona and her council while the fake magical girl got all red faced and stared at him as he calmly talked her down. Once he had managed to do so he pulled out an ice cream, one that he had been saving in a lunch cooler for later, from his bag and offered to give it to her if she would calm down.

A few minutes later the kid was sitting down eating an ice cream while Sona and her council continued to stare at him in bewilderment, almost like he had literally punched out Cuthulu or something. It was just a little kid. She was harmless. Sona, finally snapping out of her bewilderment, said thank you to him and took the girl with her back to her office.

The next time she saw him she had struck up a conversation with him. Despite her outwardly cold demeanor, she was a rather nice individual, if a bit strict, once you talked to her. She was rather easy to have an academic conversation with, especially since her grades are basically the highest in their possible grade. Besides some of their conversations, however, the blond did not know all that much else about the council president, which was what made it weirder whenever she talked to him. The president was well known for not really getting close with anyone unless they were people on the student council and yet, despite the fact, she kept coming back to talk to the guy no one really wanted to be around.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Naruto grinned at her while rubbing the back of his head slightly. "Thank you Sona," he said earnestly, ignoring the fact that most people would shriek over the fact that he referred to her with such familiarity and without the proper suffix. "I really do appreciate the complement." Naruto cocked his head to the side though to get a better look at them. "Now while I do not mind you visiting Sona is there something you two need? You wouldn't come over just to congratulate me Sona. I know. I've had my grades posted before and haven't gotten the kind of congratulations from you before nor am I foolish enough to believe that you are here just for a social call."

Naruto noticed a glint in her eye. It was the kind of glint that said all it needed to, one that would have him start running for the hills.

"Actually," Sona began, he stare becoming slightly more serious. "I'm her to discuss with you the prospect of you possibly…"

"RUN AWAY!"

Sona was interrupted by a shout from the field where some of the teams were practicing. The three turned to stare as three boys ran away, running so fast they were kicking up dust behind them. What ended up identifying the three, however, was the angry all female kendo team chasing after them, wooden swords in hand.

"Well, it seems that Issei Hyoudou and his friends are up to their usual antics," sighed Sona as she rubbed her temple, turning back to Naruto to see him getting up and throwing his blazer and backpack over his shoulder. "Where are you going, Tachibana-san? I haven't been able to finish…"

"Listen Sona," Naruto said, walking toward the action and using this as a way to escape whatever she was going to request from him, "I'll listen to your request later." He sighed slightly. "I got to go save Issei from getting the crap beaten out of him… again. If I don't I'll have to hear about it later with him saying stupid stuff like 'you were just too lazy to get off of your ass and save me' or something similar." He cocked his head back at her and grinned. "Besides, Miss President, you're going to have to calm those girls down anyway before they destroy the place." He waved to both Sona and Tsubaki as he ran to help his friend. "See you later!"

"Tachibana-san," shouted Tsubaki as she was about to run after him, only to have a hand placed in front of her by Sona. The tall black haired girl looked to her side to see her master staring at the blonde haired boys back as he ran towards the action, a resigned expression on her face as she shook her head. "Madam President…"

"It's alright Tsubaki," the girl said softly, continuing to watch him go. "I can ask him to join later."

"But the reason you were asking now was because _they _have been sighted in the area," protested her assistant. "If we keep letting him walk around without telling him anything about the danger than he could…"

"Tsubaki," her leader repeated her name sternly. "Enough. I know enough about the danger that exists for him. It was bound to happen to him sooner or later."

The vice president bit her lip slightly. "To think someone who is completely ignorant to our world could have that much power within him," she said softly, a little bit of awe seeping into her voice. "The fact that he had not been approached yet is…"

"Surprising," finished Sona. "Yes, I'm fully aware. But both Rias and I have kept an eye on him since he came on our radar his first year here. The amount of raw magical power he has should not be possible in a human without training and constant refinement in order to control it. Yet here he is, unknowing of anything about his potential. Observation has shown consistently that he knows nothing of our world yet he still has that kind of monstrous power. If it weren't for the fact I've seen the data collected by the school on him I would almost say there was no way he could be human."

The two continued to look on as Naruto jumped into the fight to save his friend.

* * *

(With the Perverted Trio)

There would be many days in his life were Issei Hyoudou was happy to say that he was a pervert. He could say he knew everything about the human body sexually. The fact he aced the health portion of his gym class could tell you that much. He could guess a female's size in various area almost as good as Motohama and was as lustful as Matsuda.

Issei Hyoudou thought himself to be a connoisseur. He enjoyed all kinds of women of all different types. Short or tall, skinny or slightly chubbier, he didn't care. If they had a nice pair of breasts on them then he did not care. He was not discriminatory when it came to a beautiful pair.

Yes, Issei was happy to be a pervert. Yes, most days Issei was indeed happy to be a pervert… that is to say when he was not caught in the act.

Right now Issei was almost kicking himself for being a pervert.

Issei Hyoudou had been ecstatic when Motohama and Matsuda told him they had found a new peeping spot to use, especially when they mentioned it lead to the changing room regularly used by the girl's kendo team. The team was actually considered to be the biggest single grouping of beautiful women that got together on a regular basis. Sure there was girls track and girls tennis but they did not have the following the girls of the kendo team did. Add to the fact that they would more likely than not be sweaty from practice and that they would be changing as well. Issei had been salivating just thinking about it.

Unfortunately, what the trio did not quite expect, was for one of the girls to accidently leave their equipment behind at the field. What they also did not expect was for her to hear the three of them giggling as they watched her teammates through the little hole in the wall. What they really did not expect was her sudden rage filled battle cry of "perverts", a bunch of startled girls, said girls running out of the changing room, and said group of girls moving to catch the group of perverts that had begun to head for the hills with their wooden practice swords to, more likely than not, beat the crap out of them.

And so here they were, running for their lives from the bane of their existence: angry women who did not enjoy being peeped on.

"_This was Matsuda and Motohama's fault,"_ the brown haired pervert thought, running as fast as his legs could carry him. _"They're the ones who supposedly found the 'nirvana of spots'. Why do I have to suffer because of they couldn't check how obvious the spot would be?"_

Issei wished he could escape. And, as if he had the god of perverts smiling down on him, Issei's request to escape came in his usual form of escape.

"So," drawled someone from beside him and drawing the attention of the other two members of the trio. They saw Naruto running beside them, easily keeping up with them as his blazer fluttered in the wind behind him. "You idiots seemed to find yourselves in another bad situation. So what did you do this time?" The blonde turned and looked behind them to see the angry group of girls chasing after them. "What's up ladies," he called out, much to the dread of the three perverts as his presence only seemed to antagonize them further.

"Tachibana," shouted one of the girls, Murayama he believed her name was. "What are you doing here you stupid yakuza?"

"Oi," shouted the blonde as he began waving his fist at her, "how many times do I have to tell you idiots I'm not a bloody yakuza! I'm the highest test scorer in our year for Kami's sake! Stop calling me a damned yakuza!"

"As if we would believe you," shot back her friend Katase, the other girl leading the chase to take their heads from their shoulders. "Besides, if you aren't, then why are you helping a bunch of perverted idiots like them?"

"Cause one of them is my best friend," grumbled the boy as he turned his sights back to the fleeing trio keeping pace next to him. "So what did you morons do this time? Steal some poor girl's underwear right off her body?" He then pointedly stared at Motohama. "Oh kami Motohama, please tell me you told some poor girl you're going to rape her in your imagination… again."

"Oh fuck you Naruto," shouted Matsuda, who was pumping his arms and legs as quickly as possible, trying to keep up with the group. "You're just as unlucky with girls as we are."

"Yeah," joined in Motohama as he jumped of a misplaced piece of fallen track equipment. "You're in the same boat as us. In fact why you even running with us. You weren't there when we were looking through the peep hole!"

Naruto just stared at them as he ran with them as they came toward the entrance of the school. "You know you actually make a good point but I'm going to ignore the only smart thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth and help you instead."

"Oh thank you," shouted Issei in joy, knowing if it was Naruto he might have a chance at escape.

"Oh fuck no," shouted the other two of the perverted trio. "There is absolutely no way were getting help from you," quickly added Motohama. "You'll probably chalk it up to us owing you a life debt or a similar system that you yakuza believe in!"

"Oh yeah," challenged the blonde. "Then why didn't I tell Matsuda he owes me a favor or life debt or whatever when I helped him study for the entrance exams?"

"Cause you know the only thing he's good for is ogling some girl's breasts," stated Issei while Matsuda squawked at the betrayal by his fellow pervert and ignoring the fact that he too had the same problem.

"Regardless of Matsuda's short comings," began Motohama as he to ignored Matsuda's continued shouts of indignation, "there is no way were accepting help from a guy like you."

The blonde just stared at him, his eyes scrunched up in annoyance. "You know what… I was going to save you guys anyway when I was saving Issei but now…." He ran in front of the two of them, noticing the horde of fit girls getting closer to them, and then swept his leg under them knocking them over as he and Issei ran for the hills. "Now you're the sacrificial tribute to keep them from burning mine and Issei's hides!"

As the two fell behind, he could hear the female rampage behind them disappear as he heard twin shouts of "fuck you Naruto." This was followed by lots of crying with the sounds of various genitalia being squished echoed right behind him. Unlike how they wanted him to feel though, the blonde could only feel the sense of satisfaction.

Issei stared at his friend as they ran passed the school gates, his expression filled with some remorse. "You know what Naruto, normally I might have called you a traitor for allowing them to fall in battle in such a manner…" he began before looking back at the beating his fellow perverts were receiving, "but at this point I have to say better them than me."

The foreign looking blonde just grinned at his buddy and slapped him on the back. "See, I knew you'd think so."

* * *

(Later)

After the duo had made sure they escaped the wrath of the all-female kendo team, the two of them sat on a bench in the part, munching on some snacks they had bought from the local convince store and just talking the way they used to when it was just the two of them against the world. Before Issei had Matsuda and Motohama to hang out with too.

When they were kids they had come to this park a lot to hang out and play games, even when no one else really wanted to play with them. Since Irina had moved away it would be just the two of them playing games but to them it did not matter. Even if it was just them they always managed to have fun regardless of the situation.

It was hanging with Issei like this that Naruto missed when they were kids. When school wasn't so complicated and they didn't have to worry about going to college and finding jobs soon, not that Issei was actually thinking about that anyway. He was too busy with trying to get a harem that Naruto even wondered if he thought about college and working, if he was too busy chasing his dream.

But he supposed that was what he liked about Issei, he was always chasing his dream no matter how crazy it seemed. It was practically impossible to have a harem in this day and age and the people who did were usually some form of royalty with a series of mistresses who more likely than not did not know about each other. Finding a situation where they did would require him to go even further back into history looking at the harems of various royal figures and what not. But hey, it was still a dream Issei chased and that made Naruto somewhat envious of him. At least he had one.

Naruto on the other hand did not have one at this current moment. He had no dream to speak of, no desire that he wished to achieve to the point where there were times he wondered why he tried so hard to do as well as he did in school. He didn't even know what he wanted to do. He didn't even feel like there was something for him to do. He had no dream for the future and that made him feel even more abnormal than other people already did.

"_**You used to have a dream you believed in,"**_whispered a small voice in the back of his head, which he desperately attempted to ignore due to it rearing its ugly head every so often.

"_Shut up," _replied the blonde as he palmed his head in frustration, trying to ignore the voice that seemed to be attempting to coax a reaction.

"_**Hehehehehe,**_**"** giggled another, sounding almost like a madman he had seen in one of those bad horror flicks. _**"Come on kid, you know it's true. You used to have a dream and now you can't even remember what it was,"**_ the voice continued, taunting clear in its gargled voice. _**"Poor baby!"**_

"_Shut Up,"_ he returned, a pained expression stretching across his face as he stared into the tan colored palm of his hand. _"Just leave me alone!"_

"_**Oh but we can't Naruto,"**_ repeated the voice from before, it's voice almost cruel and filled with… a longing tone. _**"After all…"**_

"_**We're always with you,"**_ said a multitude of voices as one.

"… Naruto," shouted a voice next to him, startling him out of his trance. He stared at Issei, whom was next to him looking at him with a worried expression. "Naruto are you okay there buddy? You've been out of focus for about a few minutes now."

Naruto let go of a breath he had not realized he was holding. "Yeah, I'm sorry."

Issei sighed as he kept looking at his friend. "Is your schizophrenia acting up again?"

The blonde could only nod his head. "Their getting worse too," he admitted. "Lately they have been getting rather restless."

Issei could sighed and patted Naruto on the back, having grown used to the problem by now. "You need to relax buddy. Have you been taking the pills?"

"Yeah but it seems they have adapted to them. They just show up at random and without warning now." The blonde put his hands on his head. "There are times where I don't know what to do anymore."

"Calm down Naruto. Just relax. I'm here for you so you got no need to worry. The great and powerful Issei-sama will support you no matter what."

"…Thank you, Issei. I can always count on you, huh," the blonde chuckled to himself softly while the brown haired boy grinned in excitement.

"Yup," he exclaimed, his grin almost splitting his face. "You can count on me." He then threw and arm over Naruto's shoulder, pulling him close to his side and stretching his hand out toward the sky. "Just stick with me and watch as I become harem king!" If it were possible his grin grew even wider as he shouted his plans to the heavens "You'll be my first loyal subject in my kingdom. And who knows, I, in all my wisdom, might seem fit to gift you with a harem all your own."

The blonde snorted but decided to play along. "And what would my duties happen to be, my liege," he asked playfully and jabbed his friend lightly in the ribs to get perverted boy to let him go. "Surely you would not gift me with a harem all my own for free?"

"Of course I would," returned the boy, catching on. "After all, if a king is not kind to his subjects than what kind of king is he. He would happily give his first loyal subject a harem even if he was an asexual moron such as yourself."

"Oh yeah," the blonde cried in annoyance. "Well I would rather be asexual than some perverted bastard who has boobs on the brain every second of everyday and can't get anything else done because of it!"

"You wanna go, 'Mr. Foreign Yakuza,'" asked Issei, bringing his head forward and smacking his forehead against Naruto's own, annoyance rising in him.

The blonde pushed back. "Bring it on King of Perverts," he countered, smoke being released from his nostrils as he kept pushing forward into their stalemate. "I think I can stand to knock you down a few pegs."

All of the sudden, Naruto charged full force knocking Issei over and to the ground, playfully punching him all the way. Issei let out a grunt as he hit the ground and punched Naruto in the chest, knocking him over and into the ground. Issei jumped right on top of him and punched in the cheek, laughing all the way as he did so.

"Feel the power of my lust," bellowed the boy like a villain from a corny cartoon. As he was about to jump on top of the blonde he was quickly mule kicked in the chest, pushing him away. Naruto quickly scrambled his way onto all fours and bum rushed him, knocking the boy over again.

Standing, the tall blonde placed his foot on top of his fallen foe as he too adopted the laugh of a cartoon villain. "Muhahaha," he cackled in delight. "Your power of lust is no match for my sheer strength of awesomeness!"

"Awesome my ass," his fallen opponent replied, gripping his subjugator's and pulling him down, forcing his body into the grass next to his. They steadied their breathing as they stared at the skyline that slowly began to fade to orange. They were silent as they looked up at the beautiful dusky sky that they had been entranced by since they were kids, silent and ignorant of the world that continued on without ignoring whatever behest they may have made. All was silent until the same laughter they had made as kids echoed into the skies above.

They did not care at that moment if onlookers were to stop and stare, taking them for fools. They did not care that about the time of day it was or how close it was to dark. They did not even care what time they would have finished.

In that moment Issei for once did not think about breasts and buxom women. He did not think about becoming the harem king or even about actually finding a girlfriend. Gone were his usual thoughts. The same could be said of the worry wart Naruto, who for once was not thinking about his future or the things that might have been missing in his life. He did not think about his problems or even the voices he heard in his head. For this singular moment in time, Issei and Naruto were truly content with their lives.

It would be the last time they ever would experience the feeling together.

* * *

(A Week Later)

Naruto had experienced many things in his life that shocked him. He had been shocked when he found out that his friend Irina was moving away. He had been shocked when he had found out his best friend had become a pervert that he had only ever heard legends about. He had been shocked when he found out that he had a form of schizophrenia that had never even been heard of before. Those were typically the shocks that he could deal with.

Issei, his perverted best friend, actually getting a girlfriend was one of the few shocks that did not fully compute with his brain and in fact, for the most part, fried the logical section of his mind.

If you had asked Naruto before when he thought Issei would finally get a girlfriend he would say probably after college, when his lusts would be satiated by other things occupying his mind. By then he would probably have realized that he actually was a fair looking guy and that if he calmed down a bit women would be more receptive of him. After all, behind that crazed lust of his, he really was a kind and thoughtful individual who cared about the people close to him.

No, Naruto was definitely sure that Issei would not have a girlfriend in his high school years. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on the outlook of the person looking through the viewing glass, it somehow seemed that his prediction of the future had once again been incorrect. Then again whenever Naruto tried to predict the future involving Issei he had always managed to find a way to surprise him. In fact, in quoting one of the games he and Issei played as a kid, they had managed to change "evil always finds a way" to "perversion always finds a way." Kami knew Issei proved the fact continuously.

When Naruto had first been told the brown haired pervert had gotten a girlfriend, much like Matsuda and Motohama, in denial of the whole thing. In fact it was the first time the three of them actually agreed on something if only for different reasons. Matsuda and Motohama were mostly in denial because they did not want to believe that their fellow perv had, as they put it, betrayed them by getting a girlfriend. Naruto was in denial of the fact due to the overall idea that Issei had found a girl that could actually handle his perverse thought process.

They were at first given evidence in the form a photo of a black haired girl, who was around their age and in a uniform from one of the local schools in town, smiling and standing next to the boy with a delightful looking smile on her face. Motohama, being the smartest of the perverted trio, actually claimed that the picture was photo shopped and were it not for the fact Naruto knew Issei couldn't work a photo editor for his life then Naruto would have agreed.

The shots kept on coming for the other two, however, when Issei's girlfriend, whom he now knew was named Yuuma Amano, actually came to see Issei after school was let out. Needless to say, the two blew a gasket and now refused to even speak to Issei as of this moment. If anything it kind of made Naruto happy those two idiots were leaving his friend alone for once.

And so it came to the situation he was in now. After planning on going home for the day, Issei invited the blonde to join him and Yuuma to go to a café with them. Of course, Naruto had originally wanted to decline, not really wanting to interrupt and be a third wheel while Issei was spending time with his new girlfriend. Upon the brown hair boy insistence, however, he revealed that his girlfriend was really interested in meeting her new boyfriend's best friend due to all the stories he had shared about them when they were kids.

Wanting to support Issei in his relationship, the blonde finally gave in and agreed to meet them at the café. Upon his arrival to the area, being a little bit later than he was supposed to be, he found his perverted friend laughing and smiling with the black hair girl who had become the object of his affections. Upon walking closer, Naruto noticed more closely some of Yuuma's features.

She was without a doubt beautiful, almost ethereal even. Her long silky black hair cascaded down her back, going right down to her pelvic area. Her face was smooth and angular, without an ounce of baby fat on it as the bright violet gems she called eyes sparkled in delight. And her body… that really explained why Issei accepted her invitation to become her boyfriend. She had the body of a model, her smooth, curvy figure showing clear through the tight school uniform that clung to her body to the point it even accentuated Issei's favorite part of the female body quite nicely. She was beautiful in every sense of the word.

It put Naruto on edge.

A girl like this was interested in Issei? He loved his best friend but this was the type of girl that was typically out of both of their leagues. Yet here she was, sitting there next to Issei and laughing like a normal school girl in love. It was suspicious and he did not like it.

Finally deciding to take the plunge, he greeted the two as he walked up to their table. "Yo, Issei," Naruto said simply as he pulled out his chair and sat down, putting his blazer on the back of the chair. "Sorry I'm late," he apologized, looking toward his friend, "but I was needed after my last class by the teacher." That was a bold faced lie but he went with it.

Issei just smiled at him in response. "It's alright," he replied. "You were only late by a few minutes and Yuuma-chan and I haven't been here all that long."

Naruto cocked his head toward the side, looking to see the beauty he had yet to have a conversation with until now. The girl who had wanted to meet him. He extended his hand toward her. "Hi. The name is Naruto. Tachibana Naruto. But you can just call me Naruto if you want. I don't do formalities, you know."

The girl cocked a brow but smiled none the less, shaking his hand with her own. "It's a pleasure to meet you Naruto-san." Naruto's brow twitched in annoyance at the formality, causing her to giggle melodiously. "I've heard a lot about you from Issei-kun. I've also heard rumors about the famous 'Foreign Yakuza of Kuoh.'" Naruto's brow twitched twice while Issei broke out into full blown laughter. "I must say the rumors about you do not do you justice."

"Kami damn it, have those idiots have been spreading rumors again," he groaned, palm meeting face as he rubbed his eyes in annoyance.

"Don't worry about it Naruto-san," she began placating, "Issei-kun has told me that those are all just misconceptions and that you really are a nice guy. I don't judge."

"Yeah Naruto," chimed in his friend. "Yuuma-chan is really sweet. Trust me."

Yuuma playfully punched him in the arm. "Oh stop it you," she said, giggling lightly as Issei swung his arm around her.

Naruto just stared at their interaction. Something was wrong here. The fact that they had only been dating for a week, without even going on a date he might add, and already being this familiar was incredibly strange. In japan it was considered odd for this type of relationship to develop in a week, even if you were dating. Hell in America it was weird for a relationship to develop this quickly and Americans got into serious relationships like freaking lightning.

Another thing he found disconcerting was the glint in her eye. It was barely noticeable unless you looked close and even then she was good at hiding it, but he could almost see a thinly veiled line of contempt hidden behind those expressive eyes. It was the kind that spoke of someone who thought that they were speaking to someone who was below their station, a look he had seen on one to many kids who thought themselves kings due to their popularity in middle school and even at Kuoh. It was a look of someone who had questionable motives. And while it may have just have been the minor case of paranoia he received as part of his schizophrenia flaring up but there was definitely something wrong with this girl in front of him.

"…is he okay Issei-kun," he heard, breaking him out of his stupor and allowing him to see both Issei and Yuuma looking at him with concerned looks, or at least Issei's look was full of concern. The black hair girl's expression was more of curiosity, even interest dare he say it.

"I'm fine," he replied eagerly, hoping not to tip the girl off to his thoughts. "So, how did you meet Issei? I heard that you were the one who asked him out." He saw her eyes narrow slightly.

"_**Smooth move moron,"**_ one of his inner voices called out, this one gruffer than the two who had spoken to him previously a week before.

"_Oh, Kami, not now please,"_ the blonde thought desperately. Now was not the time for the crazy voices in his head to speak up and cause him problems. He needed to hear what she was going to say.

The girl slowly blushed, allowing Naruto to note how good of an actor she was due to the fact she could seemingly blush when she needed too. "Kyaa," she cried cutely, her blushing seemingly adding to the image of a love struck school girl. "Naruto-san, didn't you're mother ever tell you it's not nice to ask a girl a question like that." Issei fell for the ruse but Naruto could see her eyes narrow even more at him, studying him intently for reaction.

"_**She knows you're on to her now,"**_ a cruel sounding voice chimed in from the back of his mind. _**"You can feel it now, can't you. That churning feeling in your stomach, the feeling of dread filling the air. You're friend Issei is oblivious to it. You are obviously not."**_

It was true. No one else in the café could feel it but the air had suddenly gotten thicker, wither just directed at him or whatever he did not know for sure. Maybe it was all in his head, just like the voices, but right now he felt almost as though he were having trouble breathing. As it was he was having trouble keeping his breathing steady to try and not make a scene. Whoever this girl was, she was dangerous.

"_**Of course you realize that now,"**_ commented a different voice, this one not unkind but definitely sarcastic. _**"She's going to try and kill you! You need to stay away from this chick!"**_

"_**Yeah man,"**_ an energetic voice chimed in. _**"There ain't nothing lucky about the situation you find yourself in, yeah!"**_

"_**Maybe we can convince her to leave us alone,"**_a timid voice suggested. _**"Maybe she doesn't really want to fight."**_

"_**Oh please,"**_ cried another voice full of pride. _**"This bitch wouldn't be throwing around such killing intent if she wanted to be pals. I say we squash her!"**_

"_**Can the voices in my head please not have a conversation without me and act like I'm not here,"**_ howled the dismayed blonde, shutting up the different voices in his head. _**"Please just keep quiet! I'm trying to concentrate on what to do! Just let me think!"**_

The voices stopped abruptly and did not chime in again as he continued to stare at the girl. He decided he would get nowhere unless he pushed the envelope more.

Smiling sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, shucks, I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't realize that was so personal for you."

She smiled lightly, her eyes glinting. "That's ok, you didn't know."

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what do you like about this crazed guy here?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean," the brown haired boy complained, pouting lightly. "I am not crazed!"

"Says the boy who stole panties from the girl's locker room in middle school and refused to let the go even when they caught you," deadpanned his friend.

"Dude, I thought you said you would never mention that incident again! What happened to our agreement?"

"Oh, sorry," he apologized, glancing out of the corner of his eye to see Yuuma break her act for a second to scowl lightly in their direction. "I kind of forgot about the agreement."

She noticed his look and almost flawlessly reapplied her act, smiling at Issei lightly. "It's ok Issei," she soothed. "I understand. A legacy of inept youth and crazy times, am I right?" Seeing Issei quickly nod his head, she smiled cheerfully. "Good! Then you promise to never do it again, right?"

At this, if it weren't for the fact that he thought Issei and himself were being targeted by this girl, he would have laughed at Issei's downcast expression as he seemingly almost contemplated giving up his desire to steal girls' underwear. It was almost picture worthy when Issei's lip got appeared in a pushed out manner and his eyes watered slightly. Finally realizing if he didn't say yes he would be in trouble, the distraught boy nodded his head and causing the girl to nod cheerfully.

"_**Ha, she's got him so well trained after a week,"**_ laughed a deranged sounding voice.

"_Shut Up,"_ Naruto reminded, again silencing the voices in his head. Naruto outwardly smiled at the interaction, not wanting to let his internal thoughts out. "So, is there something else you wanted to talk to me about, Yuuma-san?"

She shook her head slightly, making a slight noise to herself. "You know Naruto-san, a girl is never going to like a guy that is so abrupt," she said, ending it with a slight mocking smile. It was a smile that made him feel fear for his and Issei's situation. It was the smile of a beast playing with their food. "I actually asked you to come here because Issei mentioned that you were interested in games."

Naruto was startled. The blonde did indeed like games. He played all kinds in fact. While he would admit to playing some of the more mindless console games most kids his age played on occasion, he mostly liked games of chance and games of intelligence. He had no explanation for why he liked games of chance with the exception that he liked the risks he took when playing them. It was few times, due to his isolation, that he actually found some fun outside of reading a good book. There were usually a small set of guidelines that were followed by all but the rest was left up to chance and that was something he liked a lot. It made it somewhat more challenging.

What he meant by games of intelligence was a game that challenged the mind, typically a player verses player type game like chess or some of its Asian equivalent Shogi. He liked testing his skills and his know how strategies, ones he typically made on the fly. It felt like whenever you played that kind of game with someone you were capable of telling what kind of person they were. It was a rather interesting feeling.

Naruto, realizing he had yet to answer the question, simply stated "Yes, I do." At that, her smile almost seemed to split her face and it only further solidified that he wanted nothing to do with the woman.

"Well, my friends and I play a little bit of a role playing type game," she said simply, casually stirring the coffee she had apparently bought before his arrival with a small stick. She pulled out the stick and sensuously licked it lightly. "It's a little get together with some of my friends that we have every week."

"What do you do exactly," Naruto asked, leaning in marginally as he awaited her response. This was it? Had his fears really been for nothing? Had it really just been paranoia that made him look at her so skeptically.

"Oh, it's kind of like a game of magic," she commented, almost offhandedly. "Tell me, what do you know about mythology?"

"A lot," he replied cautiously. "Anything specific?"

"Do you know about gods," she probed.

"Yes, I do," he said. "Rather enjoy reading about the lore and some of the practices of the cultures who worshiped them."

"Well in this game, all gods, no all beings from mythology… are real. Gods, Demons, Angels, Dragons, and all other kinds of fantastical beings are real."

"Ok…"

"And we are warriors who brave through the hardships of such a world where the beings exist. But in order to do so, we need weapons called sacred gears."

"Sounds exciting," interjected Issei, who seemed to really be getting into it. Issei, when he was a kid and before he had become boob obsessed, was actually much like Naruto in his passion for mythology. When they were kids, in fact, one of the things they used to love to do was play games where they were heroes who fought demons, gods, you name it and they had probably made a game where they had killed it together at least once. So even now, after so many years, Issei could still get excited about such games if possible.

"Yes, it is Issei-kun," replied Yuuma, smiling in a joyous manner. "You see, these weapons have different abilities and give users all sorts of different skills. It's rather a lot of fun!"

Naruto, for some reason, felt his gut churn at that. She seemed rather enthused about this game. A little too much so in fact. He couldn't shake it. He knew that these paranoid feelings were wrong but he couldn't shake them.

"So, with that I mind, I asked you here tonight so I could ask you both if you would like to join in our game," she asked happily.

Issei grabbed her shoulder and turned her towards him, startling her slightly. "That depends Yuuma-chan," he said, his expression deathly serious. "Just answer me this."

"Yes," she asked, waiting with bated breath for his question.

"Do you guys cosplay," he asked, still completely serious.

She looked unsure about how to answer it. "…well…um…yes?"

"And are the cosplay outfits… skimpy in some areas," he asked, his urgent tone never wavering in the slightest despite how crazy the question was.

"Ano… yes," she again answered, testing the water slightly to see if it was leading in the direction she believed it would while Naruto face palmed, already knowing that was exactly where it was heading.

"And do you have a lot of female members," he asked finally.

Finally realizing where this was going, she answered confidently. "Oh, absolutely. There is Akane-chan, Biwko-chan, Aki-chan, Chi-chan, Suzuki-chan…"

Naruto watched as his friends face continued to flush as she listed off names of some of the females in the group, already knowing that she had found Issei's kryptonite and was now just jamming it in further ensuring he would give in. After finally reaching ten names Issei flew back in his chair due to a noise bleed, a happy smile working its way across his face.

Jumping up, Issei grabbed Yuuma and began shaking her. "Yes," he shouted. "Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes! Where the hell do I sign up?"

Yuuma smiled at Issei as she took his hands in hers. "That's great Issei-kun," she shouted back. "I'm so happy you'll be joining us now."

Issei fisted his chest. "Of course," he replied confidently. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Oh thank you Issei-kun," she continued to thank. "You're the best boyfriend ever!" After that she kissed his cheek, ensuring there would be no way for him to convince Issei to back out of it. He blushed as he scratched his cheek in happiness. Yuuma then turned her sights toward him. "And what about you, Naruto-san? Will you join us too?"

The blonde was at a loss for words. He honestly did not know what to do. His gut, the voices in his head, hell his own perceptions were screaming at him that it would be a horrible idea. Even if it was his paranoia talking it had kept him out of a lot of troublesome situations before. Hell, being overly cautious was something he would prefer at this point. This was the first time he had met Yuuma and quite frankly, even without the paranoia he could tell there was something that was completely off about the girl. Behind that kindly looking girl was an aura that screamed danger at his senses.

But then there was the fact that it might just literally be all in his head. He did have bloody schizophrenia after all. Most, including himself, were known to over exaggerate situations and turn them into things they weren't and even though it was only a minor form, doctors only having been able to diagnose him with the two with two symptoms: his auditory hallucinations and extreme case of paranoia. It was still enough to say it was a minor case of it but it still drove him bonkers. All of those thoughts about something not being right about her, they could just be delusions he dreamed up.

"_**Listen to me kid,"**_stated a guttural sounding voice, breaking him of his thoughts. _**"There is something not right about this bimbo. Grab the pervert and get the fuck away from her."**_

"_**Listen to us man,"**_chirped the energetic voice. _**"There is nothing lucky about hanging around this girl. She is about as unlucky as you can get. Listen to me because I know luck and she is all bad luck man!"**_

"Naruto," Issei called out, interrupting the voices. "Can't you see she just wants to hang around with you and get to know you better? I would love it if my girlfriend and my best friend got on good terms with each other, you know."

"Issei… I…," Naruto tried to speak but it came out a garbled mess. He didn't know what to do.

"_**Listen brat,"**_ shouted the prideful voice. _**"Get the fuck out of here! She is bad news! Her energy is fucking radiating ill intent!"**_

"_**I know you just think we're voices in your head, but please just listen to us just this once,"**_tried the timid voice diplomatically.

Naruto held his head in pain as his thoughts jumbled about in his head. Issei walked toward his friend, grabbing him by the shoulder and leading him to an unoccupied corner of the room. "Naruto," he asked in concern. "Are they acting up again?" The blonde nodded slowly. "Come on man, snap out of it. You've never had it this bad before."

"Issei, that not the only thing," Naruto explained. "There is something off about her… Yuuma, I mean."

"What do you mean," Issei inquired. "She's been nothing but nice to you. What is off about her?"

"It's because every time I look into her eyes I see something I don't like. She is hiding something Issei!"

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it! She comes out of the blue and asks you to be her boyfriend!"

Issei scratches his head slightly. "Well she said that she had been observing me for a while. She said about how she liked what she saw about me. My kind nature and stuff, you know."

"I know that and you know that but you don't think it's suspicious she didn't try to be friends with you first or something like that?"

"Other people do it all the time!"

Naruto let out a frustrated growl. "And we are not other people Issei! You're smarter than this for kami's sake! She wants something from us! She has that glint in her eye!"

"Naruto you're just being paranoid again! Stop letting it rule you damn it! She just wants to be your friend!"

Naruto startled, having lost whatever other words were about to reverberate from his throat. She just wanted to be his friend? She really just wanted to be his friend? Was that really the case? As it was he really did not have many.

"When I told her about you she thought that you sounded really cool," Issei stated fiercely to him, defending his girlfriend and her integrity. "She even said she was envious that I had a friend as cool as you! You Naruto! She said that you sounded cool just from a kami forsaken preliminary description. Hell when I got into details about some of our adventures as kids she giggled the entire time. She told me to ask you to come with us today so she could meet you, my best friend!

"When I told her you had said yes she was so excited. She couldn't wait to meet the person who, and I quote, 'sounded really awesome.' She wants to be your friend too! Not everyone is out there to get you or me Naruto! There are plenty of people out there who are genuine and she is one of them. I can feel it! Please, join in and just give her a chance. I don't want you to not like each other."

Naruto was at a loss for words. A small part of him, one he really did not even want to admit existed, always thought that Issei would drop him on a dime if a girl asked him too. He always said it wasn't likely to himself but the thought still existed. Maybe that was why he had been so adverse to her. He thought she was going to take his only real friend away from him. That realization made him feel horrible.

He bowed his head in submission, recognizing Issei had a point. "I'm sorry Issei," he apologized genuinely. "I guess you're right, I really am being really am being unreasonable. I'm sorry."

His friend slapped him on the back, grinning slightly. "Hey, that's fine," he stated. "Look, just give it a try. Who knows, you and I might actually make a few friends."

Naruto too put on a small grin. "Hey, I think you're doing this to try and turn a bunch of cosplaying nerd girls into you're ideal harem."

Issei's grin grew. "Yup, got it in one. It's the first step to becoming harem king." He poked Naruto in the chest. "And remember, as my servant, you've got to assist me in my endeavor, you know?"

Naruto just chuckled. "Yes, yes, harem king-sama. I, your faithful attendant, shall help you create the promise land!"

Issei howled in delight. "Yeah, that's the spirit! Come on, we gotta tell Yuuma your joining us." He dragged his friend back toward their table, where Yuuma had just finished getting off the phone. "Hey Yuuma-chan! Guess what. Naruto said that he would join the game too, so sign us both up."

Yuuma looked really happy when she heard that. "Really," she asked, tone excited. "That's wonderful! Everyone will be so happy we have two new players joining us." She picked up her bag from under the table. "Come on, one of my friends is outside to give us a lift to the meeting."

Issei looked surprised as he went and grabbed his bag too. "Wow, that was quick," he said, running toward the café door in a hurry before shouting back at them. "Come on, we'll be late if you guys keep moving at the pace you are right now."

"I'm coming Issei," complained Naruto with a smile. "Just hold you're horses you damned perv." After grabbing his back and blazer of the back of the chair he walked toward Yuuma. "Hey Yuuma?" She looked toward him, her eyes curious. "Thanks for the opportunity to do this. I'm really looking forward to it, you know." He looked down, eyes shadowed by his hair. "And I'm sorry if I said or did anything that offended you. I'm not really good with new people."

Yuuma, instead of retorting or anything, just giggled. "Hey, don't worry about it," she placated. "Its fine, you know. I just know were going to be great friends!"

Naruto looked up at her and smiled softly. "Yeah, I would really like that." After their exchange, they both walked outside where there was an unmarked white van waiting for them. Inside was Issei, who was already buckled up with his head leaning back into the seat, eyes closed with a content smile on his face. Sitting behind him were two non-descript looking men in priest looking robes with sun glasses. He turned to look a Yuuma. "I suppose these guys are of the holy man class in the game or something?"

She looked at him, her small smile widening even more. "Yup," she said, giggling to herself as she skipped to the front passenger seat and stepped in. Peering out the window, she stuck her tongue out at him. "Come on you slow poke! Issei is right. We'll be late if you take any longer!"

Naruto just sighed. "Yeah, I'm coming." He walked to the open passenger door and jumped in, setting his bag down on the ground as the van door began to close.

"_**You realize you've made a horrible mistake, right,"**_asked the guttural voice, rearing its head once again.

"_No I haven't," _he replied defiantly as the van door snapped shut. He heard some shifting in back of him, the priest character probably adjusting in his seat or something. He also heard a giggle from up front as he saw another man in priestly garb and the same sun glasses nod his head into the overhead mirror. He saw Yuuma nod her head at something from the corner of the mirror.

And then there was a sharp pain in his neck and he slumped forward, his sight and mind slowly going blank. The last thing he heard before it all went dark was the guttural voice telling him the most over used line to say that someone was right about something.

"_**I told you so."**_

(Episode End)

* * *

(Preview)

This world is full of lies, truths, and half-truths. I was too ignorant to see that until it was too late. Had known what was out there, if I hadn't ignored the signs, would we be here in this mess? Would we have to die for a world we had had no part in? Was life truly that cruel? Maybe. I guess that was one truth I refused to see until it stared me right in the eyes with a sword of hot burning white light.

Next Life: Discovery

Stay strong young dragon!

* * *

**Authors Note:**

**Good evening everyone and thank you for reading my new story Dragon of a Different Kind. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the story because I know I honestly had fun writing it. There are so many different Naruto-DXD Crossovers out there some of you are probably wondering why I wrote this and if it will be like any of the other stories posted under the Naruto-DXD Crossover banner.**

**Hopefully the answer is no. I've read a lot of stories under the banner, hell even some I don't like just to make sure I'm that this story will be unique in of itself. Besides it is only the first chapter so if there is anything in the plot that I need to change I can do so without much problem.**

**Yes, by the way, I already have the plot and various arks laid out all the way up to 10****th**** or 11****th**** volume of DXD so be exited for that. So does that mean this story is going to follow the DXD plot verbatim with few changes here and there? Nope, absolutely not! My story has its own arcs and its own path to follow. Now, here is just a preview of some of the arcs coming up. The arc titles are all one word but if you think about it hard enough you can guess:**

**Arcs:**

**Lies (The Current Arc of the Story)**

**Truths**

**Fallen**

**Guardian**

**Brother**

**Power**

**Acknowledged**

**Disappearance**

**Game**

**These are the first nine arcs names that I've given you a preview of. Gather from them what you will as some of them are original arcs all my own.**

**Now a couple preliminary questions and answers!**

**Question #1: Will Naruto be a part of the Gremory peerage or be a devil of any kind at all?**

**Answer: No, absolutely not. That has pretty been done in like 3/4****th**** of the time when it comes to this crossover type and I kind of want to do something different. So no, in this story Naruto will retain his humanity!**

**Question #2: Is this an AU Naruto, a dimension hoping Naruto, or something completely different?**

**Answer: It is a mix of an AU and something else that will be a major driving point of the story. If I told it to you now that would kind of ruin the story.**

**Question #3: What will be Issei's role in all of this and why is Issei slightly OCC?**

**Answer: Issei is the way he is right now due to Naruto and Issei growing up together. They are literally best friends in this story and that means that Naruto's existence has changed Issei's slightly. As for his role in the story… it will be major but not in the way you think. You'll have to keep reading to find out what.**

**Question #4: Okay, so if Naruto won't be a devil and will remain human, what will he be doing? The novels follow the lives of devils mostly.**

**Answer: Naruto may be human but that does not mean he will not interact with the devil world. As for what he will be doing I can't reveal but as the time of this writing I can guarantee you it is not something you have seen in this crossover type before.**

**Question #5: Just answer me one thing… what is the pairing?**

**Answer: As much as I hate to admit it I have, for the sake of the stories plot, sadly fallen into writing what I believe to be at least a somewhat tastefully done harem story or so I freaking hope so. And no do not tell me who and who not to include. It is freaking set already so deal with it. And I'm not telling you because then there will be a riot and trust me I dealt with that enough when it came to my surprising successful, to my shock at least, "The New Devil."**

**So, I hope you all enjoy this new story as I have got plenty of it planned. In fact part of the reason it took me so long to even get this published was because I was working to make the plot sound.**

**Enjoy the new story and please review if you can. All comments, be they criticism, enjoyment, or anything else are all welcome.**


	2. Life 2: Discovery

**At the end of the chapter please read the author's note for critical story information.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or High School DXD. They, with the exception of OC weapons, abilities, and characters, are all owned by their respective authors. Please respect their discretion over their work.

**Warning: This chapter depicts some scenes of torture. Please read at your own desire.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Discovery

Waking up was a funny thing when coming out of being unconscious. First the first few moments of being back among the living, you're disoriented. Thoughts like "where are you" or "how long have I been out" are typically the first questions that surge through your head. And then the memories of what happened begin to come back to you. Depending on if you passed out in a good situation, you may or may not be content with the memories of your previous endeavors before consciousness was lost. It was typically the scenario that most people would wish for if they learned they did pass out.

Naruto Tachibana did not awaken to that kind of situation.

No, upon his awakening to rustling sounds that he could hear but not see due to a thin lair of fabric around his eyes, the young blonde found that he could not move do to being strapped to something. That something he could not fully identify due to still being lethargic, but he did not need to even try to remember what had happened previously to know that he was not in a good situation… unless Issei had somehow gotten them into a strip club that has a whole S&amp;M theme in which case he liked the situation even less. It would also explain why Issei got caught so often peeping at school. Secret masochist maybe?

However, when the memories of his previous time of being awake resurfaced he almost felt like kicking himself after he thought about it. The non-descript looking white van, the generic looking movie priests all packed into a car, the girl grinning to herself the entire trip to the van, these things hit him like a light once he remembered them. They basically screamed evil in some manner and he ignored it because he wanted to make Issei happy. And now, if he had guessed right, they were probably in the worst kind of situation possible.

He immediately, after adjusting to the sounds of the room, could make out chanting that almost sounded like an archaic form of Latin. Rustling sounds could be heard and the floor of the room he was in screeched as something was being dragged across what sounded like stone. The screeching stopped and there were a few bumps as something broadcast the sound of being dragged up something wooden.

And then it appeared it was his turn as the structure he was hanging on was tilted downward and also slowly began the process of being dragged across the room, most likely to the place they had brought the other object. The sounds of chanting and the shuffling of feet grew louder. The person dragging him also appeared to be struggling somewhat if the fact that he had slowed down were anything to go by. He eventually felt another tug, indicating that someone else had grabbed onto the item that confined him as the dragging continued.

Speaking of his confinement, after finally gaining full awareness, he attempted to identify what he was being held up by. He attempted to move his arms and felt leather binding's press up against the smooth surface of his skin, skin that should not have been exposed by his school shirt. He felt a chill run up his spine as he finally felt the cool air of where they were race across his skin. Where they outside? It did just become spring about a month and a half ago, so was it possible they were outside.

Deciding the where wasn't as important as finding out what held him up, he also began to recognize how his body was being held up. Whatever he was attached to had him hung up with his legs seemingly stretched downwards and his arms being held up at a ninety degree interval. It almost seemed like he was being held up by a… a cross? They put him onto a cross? What were they going to do, crucify him…?

And then the realization came crashing down on him like a sack of bricks as they began pulling him up the stairs, the sudden thumps jumbling up his mind. He began to struggle. _"I have to get out,"_ he thought to himself desperately. _"I need to get out of here and find Issei. Then we need to warn the cops about what is going on here because this is some serious stuff we've been dragged into."_

"_**Well,"**_ a crude sounding voice appeared from the back of his mind, almost slightly smug in tone. _**"This appears to be a fine mess you've found yourself in, isn't it?"**_

"_Now is not the time for the crazy voices in my head to begin acting smug, you know that,"_ Naruto thought desperately as he attempted to continue to struggle in his binds, the roughly cut leather leaving a sore on his arms as he rubbed his wrists against it.

"_**Then you should have listened to us and you wouldn't be in such an unlucky situation, you know,"**_ shot back the energetic sounding voice, apparently deciding that it too would come out of the wood work now if only to say 'I told you so.' It almost sounded disappointed. _**"Listen man, you're lucky to have our guidance. When we tell you something is not a good idea we mean it ain't a good idea, cipesh?"**_

"_**I think now is not the time to scold him,"**_ came from a rather passive voice, a voice he had been thankful up until now not to hear much from. _**"We need to figure out a way to help him get out of here or were all toast, aren't we?"**_

"_**Indeed,"**_ agreed the voice filled with pride. _**"We can drill the little idiot about the basics of why it is a good idea to listen to us later. For now we should focus on getting him out of here."**_

"_And what are you guys going to do," _snappishly asked the still struggling blonde. _"In case you guys have forgotten, you are voices who are figments of my damned imagination! What are you going to do about me being tied up?"_

"_**Just trust us and give us a little bit of time dear,"**_ the sensuous he heard every so often said to him. _**"It will only take us a few minutes to prepare. Just hold out until then, okay?"**_

"_I'll await your assistance with baited breath,"_ he thought sarcastically as the cross he was attached to finally came to a stop. As soon as they had stopped moving, he had stopped struggling. There was no point now that they had reached wherever they were dragging him too. They more likely than not had the spot surrounded anyway if they were in the situation he thought they were.

"Huh," he heard next to him, the voice sounding eerily familiar. "Where… where am I? What's going on! Why can't I see?"

"Issei," Naruto called out softly, ignoring all previous thoughts he had before just so he could know his friend was safe. "Issei is that you?"

"Naruto," Issei cried. "Naruto, do you know what's going on? Why the heck are we tied up? What the heck is going on? Is this a part of the game?"

"If only," Naruto grumbled to himself. "No it's not Issei. I think the only game we were playing was to see how long that girlfriend of yours could mess with our heads without us noticing."

"What do you mean, Naruto," Issei asked sounding perturbed. "Yuuma wouldn't lie to us about something like this! Come on man, I thought you said that you would give her a chance!"

"Issei if were in the situation I believe we are than whatever chance I had thought about giving Yuuma went straight out the window and into the burning fire because I think she lied to us."

"My, my," said a voice with a deep baritone, stopping the two arguing boys deep in their tracks. "It seems that one of these foolish children believes he has finally figured out the situation. To be honest though Raynare, I thought the boy you were fooling around with would have figured out the situation by now. I know he was not the smarter of the two but to be this dumb is something I don't think I have ever even seen before. It certainly is good for a laugh!"

"Do not flatter the pervert, Dohnaseek," said the voice of Yuuma Amano, the girl whom if Naruto was right had gotten them into this mess. "Tachibana had figured out something was wrong beforehand. Just by looking at me he had figured out that I was acting. Though I must admit the pervert was good for something. He managed to convince Tachibana that I just wanted to be friends with him." It was when she began to laugh that he Naruto knew he had been right. That light hearted laugh of the kindly girl sitting at a café had been replaced with the maniacal laughter of something different, something evil, and something definitely not human.

"Well it certainly was an entertaining spectacle to watch," said a soft voice near them. "I must say Raynare, you are good at playing the part of the innocent young school girl. It certainly was a very well done performance."

Another voice, almost sounding childish, giggled nearby. "Yeah, you had them completely fooled!" Naruto felt something poking his side, more likely than not the finger of the giggling girl. "I feel kind of bad that we have to kill this one though. Unlike what the rest of those crazy fools at his school say, he is quite handsome."

Naruto, if he were in a different situation, probably would have blushed at her praise of his looks. Being compared to a yakuza, it was not like he got compliments often. In fact he rarely did even though Issei had claimed differently.

"I must agree," the soft voice belonging to the first female he couldn't identify said. "He certainly is not bad to look at. He does look a little more American than Japanese though."

He heard Issei growl beside him. "You see Naruto, I told you that women were attracted to you… even if secretly," he heard his friend moan piteously. "After all, you are 'Mr. Outwardly-Hated-But-I-Have-An-Inner-Crush-On' guy! I can't believe you would betray me like this! Were supposed to be unpopular together, remember! What other kind of female exploits do you have that you haven't told me about?"

Naruto too groaned, but for a different reason than his friends. "Issei, now is not the time or place for you to speculate on the possible love life, which I don't have by the way, that I may or may not be fucking keeping from you," he shouted angrily. "For kami's sake we are tied up to crosses for hell knows what reason and your thinking with your dick! Now of all times!"

Issei sounded like he was about to retort but was cut off by the laughter of Yuuma, her harsh laughter echoing throughout the chamber that they were in. She seemingly went on for a long time, her compatriots too having gone silent to more likely than not wait for her laughter to end. It almost felt like he had spent hours waiting in suspense for something to happen to them. Neither he nor Issei said a word that entire time, with the brown haired boy listening to her laughter with emotions the blonde could not see or hear from his vantage. Naruto however decided to use that time to try and think of a way to get out.

Unfortunately, when she finally finished, Naruto had still been no closer to think of a way to escape. He heard her giggle a few more times to herself and after finally stopping, she seemed almost dismissive of the entire situation. "Thank you for the laugh Issei-kun, Naruto-san," she exclaimed, her tone full of mirth. "I have not heard such pre-death banter in a long time and even if I had, yours will still take the cake. Thank you for entertaining me so."

"Unfortunately," she continued, the amusement in her voice lessening as she spoke, "I grow tired of messing around with you. I have a tight schedule to keep and a report to make soon for my boss so I'm afraid we must cut to the chase." She snapped her finger suddenly, startling Naruto. "Kalawarner, Mittelt, please remove their blindfolds. I want them to see just the kind of situation that there in."

"Okie dokie Raynare," shouted the childish voice, her statement ringing in his ears due to her being so close to him. If he could have he would have grabbed his head in pain and instead attempted to move around instead. The female to the side of him let out a childish sigh. "Come on there big guy, relax will you?" He stopped for a second as she breathed in his ear. "Actually, keep squirming. It makes me so much more…," she let out a lust filled moan and he felt something wet slide against his ear, "excited when you squirm."

"Mittelt, stop messing around," shouted Yuuma. "It doesn't take that long to undo a blindfold. As it is Kalawarner is already done with Issei and I as amusing as it was the first time I would rather not have him begin shouting again about how unfair life is and what not. If he does than he won't stop until we finally kill him!"

"Alright, alright," complained the one called Mittelt as she finally got to work pulling off his blindfold. "Can I at least play with his corpse later? I heard that human rigor mortise lasts for quite a while and in some of that weird human porn they say that a dead human with a boner can last quite a while."

Naruto shuddered to himself. He knew what rigor mortise was. The stiffening of the muscles of the body after death. He didn't know if what she said about the penis thing was true but if it was then that left him with the creepy image of this girl raping his dead body, something he found utterly disgusting that she would even suggest. Just what kind of people were they dealing with that she would have such a sick mindset?

"I'll think about it," replied Yuuma, only furthering Naruto's questioning of their rightness in the head.

Finally, the thin piece of fabric came off and he was exposed to the darkness of the room. Looking around the room they were in he could tell they were in a basement of some kind if the lack of windows in the room was anything to identify with. There were also plenty of old candles set up to, wax dripping lining the entire stick of white. There was a little light in back of the room exposing a stair case as well. _"That's going to be our way out of this," _he thought to himself and looked toward his side slightly to see Issei was on the same brown platform as him, rather close to one another.

Looking at his friend, he could not help but ask the obvious question. "Are you ok, Issei?"

Issei cocked his head to the side to look at him, his eyes full of an emotion he could not quite make out. "Not to use the sarcasm that's usually reserved for you but do I look okay to you," he asked. "I mean was it the whole being tied up thing that made you ask or the look in my eye cause to me I don't feel fine at all."

Naruto steadied himself, trying not to snap at him despite the situation. "Calm down," Naruto placated him quietly. "Just give me some time to think of something."

"Oh Naruto-san, do you honestly think you can get out of here?"

The two boys turned and saw Yuuma Amano, standing there with her arms crossed under her breasts and a slightly sadistic smirk on her face. She was not alone either. Behind her was what seemed like a small gathering of men in priestly garb, their faces all masked behind sunglasses and an unexpressive visage. It was almost as though they were emotionless soldiers of some kind, all under her direct command and were willing to jump if she told them too. But they were not the strangest people standing close to her. No. That tittle went to the three people with large black bird like wings that were standing on either side of her.

The first one, and the only male of the seeming group leaders which allowed Naruto to identify him as the one called Dohnaseek, was a middle aged looking man with smooth black hair and a pair of blue eyes sparkling with delight. His pale violet trench coat with a white ascot would make him stand out in the crowd as someone who would seem like a gentlemen almost and were it not for the arrogant look on his black fedora topped head he might have pulled it off.

The second female of the group was the most buxom of the group, with wavy blue hair and stunning brown eyes she was quite the beauty to behold. Add her state of dress, which was a trench coat top that showed a large amount of cleavage and a nice looking short skirt, and if he were Issei he would probably drool at her mature appearance.

And then there was the last female, who was also the shortest of the group it seemed. The light from the candle close by exposed her light blonde hair, blue eyes, and the beautiful almost mature looking face that did not belong on the body of the Lolita type yet somehow still allowing it to work. The mature look ended there though with the seemingly styled gothic Lolita clothing that one would see in many different anime works.

Overall the group seemed like an odd bunch, especially since the leader seemed to be a teenage girl who was still in high school. He didn't even take the wings into account as they had to have been freaking clip-ons or something despite how real they looked.

Naruto sighed out loud. "Well Issei, congratulations," Naruto began, causing everyone in the room to look at him. "You somehow managed to find a girl that was a secret sadist and get us both involved in a deranged cult that appears to want bloody virgin sacrifices. I admit I was not expecting them to be doing male sacrifices, meaning us, but you just had to get involved with the craziest of the crazy cults, didn't you?"

"Wait, hold on," the shortest of the group, whom by her voice he could identify her as Mittelt, spoke. "You mean to tell us that you think were some kind of stupid human cult?"

Naruto eyes bore into those of his fellow blonde's. "You're telling me that despite the fact you got a legion of weird looking priests behind you and that three of you are wearing giant black bird wings that you still think you're not a cult. Ok then, well what about the bloody obvious ancient Latin chanting, the dark location with the weird looking candles, the sacrificial alter, and two virgins tied to crosses on said alter. Are you trying to tell me that the stereotypical cult isn't like that at all? Please, give me a fucking break. Any teen who's seen one of those half-baked detective dramas on television could identify that this was a cult because they all do at least one bloody episode with one! It's like a genre requirement!"

Yuuma looked amused while Dohnaseek, who moved to stand next to her, just looked up at him. "You know, now that I think about it he does have a point," he commented offhandedly, eliciting an outraged shout from Mittelt. "I mean, is this all necessary to perform the ritual?" He waved his hands around in a showing motion.

The blue haired woman sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Why is this even bothering you so much," she asked bluntly. "You have never complained before."

Dohnaseek pointed toward Naruto. "Well, when you think about it, the human does make a fair point. The set up does seem like something out of one of those human crime shows. I just want to know if we need to do this or if some idiot managed to tip the humans off about how we do things."

Yuuma just turned and looked at him in annoyance. "…I can't believe you even just said that and am thus going to ignore it." She turned back to look at her two before looking at Naruto directly. "And as for you, as funny as your deduction is Sherlock, it's wrong. We are not a cult nor are we killing you because your virgins."

Surprisingly, Issei chimed in at that point. "But your still going to kill us, aren't you," he prodded dryly. Naruto was actually surprised that Issei, despite his more likely than not physiological trauma right now, actually managed to fire that one off.

Yuuma nodded her head cheerfully. "Of course, Issei-kun," she said happily, almost sounding pleased that he recognized the fact.

Naruto would have face palmed if he could. "Of course she could say that so cheerfully," he grumbled. "Why am I not surprised?" But this was good. He could work with this situation.

It seemed that while they were on a "tight schedule" as Yuuma put it that they were still rather easily fooled into talking with them. All he and Issei had to do was prolong their lives by keeping them talking until he could come up with a plan to get them out.

"You two seem quite chatty despite the fact you know you're going to be dying soon," Mittelt stated looking at the two suspiciously. "Why is that exactly, hm?"

"Oh, well, I just want to get to know my killers in depth before they off me you know," Naruto stated in a snarky tone. "I mean really, if you guys were in your waning minutes of life wouldn't you want someone to talk to too?" At this point Naruto winked his left eye slightly at Issei, who was observing him closely. Turning back to them fully and after making sure they hadn't noticed him signaling Issei, he continued. "Besides, Yuuma, I have a query that I would like to ask you if you would be willing to answer."

"Oh," she sounded, looking intrigued by what he wanted to ask. "Please do. I guess I can give you that much before you die."

"Thank you," he thanked, his throat dry slightly as he tried to keep the situation stable. "Why exactly are you doing this? What did Issei and I do or exhibit to make ourselves your targets to the lengths where you had to trick Issei like you did."

Yuuma smiled at him almost as though she were a cat looking at a canary. "Oh, is that all," she asked in amusement. "Humph, and here I was hoping your last question would be something I hadn't heard before. Then again I guess you wouldn't know anyway, would you? I was surprised when I found out none of the devils in the area had even picked either of you up yet but I suppose I should be thankful that they weren't going to be such thorns in my side."

Devils? Like the demons from the bible type? Why the heck was she mentioning something from the Christian holy book? Where they a rival group or something?

Yuuma's smile widened at his confusion. "Now I know what you're thinking. You're wondering why I mentioned devils, beings that were primarily creatures found in Christian texts am I correct? Well to be honest it's like I said to you before Naruto-san, all creatures and beings that humans consider to be mythological are actually real. That means that devils are real as well, including the two groups of pillar house devils stationed here as well."

"What you were talking about before was in the context that it was a game," he pointed out in return, seemingly not getting what she meant. "When we talked you had said that in the game all gods and creatures from mythology are real. What you were talking about was a bloody game and… in case you haven't noticed you bloody psycho, most games do not tie people up nor do they talk about fucking sacrificing them either!"

"And who says it isn't a game," she replied casually. "In ways we are warriors and were are collecting items of great power to help us move against the devils and the angels as well as other groups. There are still great battles, enemies to conquer, troops to move; who's to say that I lied when I said it was a game. In fact in many ways plenty of different parties treat it like it is. When devils reincarnate humans they use the human game chess as an equivalent to discuss the worth of the individual being who is to be incarnated. Heck I heard that heaven was currently trying out a way to reincarnate people using playing cards though apparently they have not had any success. So in many ways this is a game."

Naruto scoffed lightly, though the feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that he should feel otherwise. Devils, angels, gods, she was expecting him to believe that they were real and that he was tied up for that reason? "Who do you think that you're fooling," he asked, voicing his disbelief about the situation. "You're telling me that devils and other beings like them are real and currently in town? What do you take Issei and I for, crazy? What's next? Are you going to tell me that those black wings on their backs are actually fake and that you're fallen angels straight out of the book of Enoch?"

Yuuma's smile widened to the point that he thought that it would most certainly split her face. "My, my Naruto-san, you catch on rather quickly!" At that, the three standing next to her slowly floated off the floor and into the air, causing Issei next to him to shout in surprise while Naruto could only stare on with wide eyes. The three in the air had identical smirks on their face as well, only further proving their enjoyment at the reveal.

Fallen angels. Fallen angels, like the ones from the bible, had kidnapped them. They were at the mercy of beings of mystical power, who were literally supposedly created by the Biblical God himself. Just what the heck were they supposed to do now? Anything he may have thought of to escape could more likely than not be countered by one of the magical abilities they more likely than not had at their disposal.

For the first time in the entire situation, Naruto did not believe they could escape. His skepticism about what she had been saying only a minute before had been disproved in only a few second interval. The powers they more than likely held would only make their escape more impossible. They were only human after all. How could he and Issei escape beings with such incredible power and control over them? The fact that they had managed to gather so many priests to them as well only further spoke of their power difference from humans. How were they supposed to fight beings like that?

"I see you finally realize the situation you're in," cooed Yuuma as though she were talking to a child. "You understand now that there is no way that you can escape don't you." She slowly walked up the stairs, a sway in her hips as though she were trying to attract attention, and made her way towards him. When she reached him, she traced her fingers along his jaw line sensuously, trying to make him ache for her touch. She leaned up against him, mouth against his ear and whispered to him. "Do you not think I did not know what you were trying to do? You were not the first human to think they could try and keep me talking while they thought of how to escape. And when they thought they had a chance, when I indulged them to the same answer to the same question that you and every other prisoner ask, I let them flounder when they finally realized that they were dealing with creatures out of their league."

She pulled back from him, staring into his now fully shocked orbs, enjoying the fact that he was trying to process the information she had just told him. She loved it when they finally realized they had no chance. It was so much fun.

"Leave him alone, Yuuma," shouted Issei from the side, who was now forcefully trying to struggle against his bonds. Staring at him, she stopped playing with the blonde before her and quickly moved toward Issei. "Why are you doing this to us Yuuma-chan," asked Issei pleadingly. "You're human too, aren't you, so why are you helping them?"

She looked like she was about to respond but was beaten to the punch by Naruto, who was now glaring at the ground. "Issei, don't you get it," he said angrily. "She's not human. She's a fallen angel like they are. She just took that form to bait you and me! She dated you to get close to you and get you to trust her. After that she had you invite me to the café with both of you where she could lay the trap for us, knowing that I was too paranoid to trust her but that I would trust you." He finally just let go of the anger.

"She played you and I like fiddles Issei. She knew what both you and I were looking for so she could kill two birds with one stone. She found out that you wanted a cute girlfriend so she gave it to you. She found out my desire for normality and to try and become more trusting. She used you to get to me and then she used that relationship she had built with you throughout the week to gather more information about me so she could convince me her attempts to be friendly were genuine." Naruto breathed in deeply, letting the information sink in for Issei. "Face it buddy, she played us the entire time and for the most part we were none the wiser."

Issei just stared at Yuuma, horror dawning on his features. "Yuuma-chan," he tried, his voice pleading. "Please tell me it's not true. Tell me that Naruto doesn't know what he's talking about." Yuuma's hair shadowed her face. "Please Yuuma-chan, tell me that our time together meant nothing to you! Please don't tell me your one of those guys up there, that you weren't just using us." Tears began to stream down his face. "Please Yuuma-chan, tell me that the feelings that we had weren't fake!"

Naruto just watched Issei plead his heart out to the silent girl. He knew he wasn't wrong. Looking at the information now that it was all together it just made sense. The facts lined up just fine, that much he knew. But a small part of him had hoped he was wrong. That maybe these fallen had done something to Yuuma and that she really wasn't one of them. Maybe she did love Issei like he did her. Maybe…

He heard giggling, softly at first but then it grew louder and louder until it became full blown laughter. Yuuma threw her head back, her laughs once again echoing throughout the chamber and had he not known the situation was real he probably would have mistaken her for an anime villainess. Her laughing grew as she was covered in a bright pink like energy as she began to change right in front of them.

Her body was stripped of all of its clothing as she gained a new more mature look, growing several inches taller than she had been previously. Her face gained a look of maturity, losing what had remained of her baby fat while her eyes darkened slightly. Her bust and hips grew a bit more while her stomach thinned out slightly more. A bit of a black sludge like substance appeared in the air and covered her in boots with stiletto heels, forearm length gloves, a thong, two shoulder guards with spikes on top, and a strap that surrounded her breasts around the nipples and around the upper portions of her stomach. Finally, a pair of lavish black wings sprouted from her back, finishing off the ensemble and confirming his worst fears fully.

The now new form of Yuuma finished her laugh, which had now become mature after he voice had seemingly dropped an octave as she slowly descended toward the prone form of Issei, who was staring at her with shock, awe, and for all he tried he could not stop a tiny amount of lust from appearing on his face. As she floated in front of him, Yuuma cupped his cheek in her now gloved hands.

"Yuuma-chan," Issei tried, desperately.

She smiled at him, her smile taking on a seductive quality. "Sorry Issei-kun," she began, stating his name in a mocking tone. "But your friend over there was right. I never have, and never will, love you."

Naruto could see thought he could almost see his poor friend's heart shatter as the words left her mouth. He growled to himself, clenching his hands as tight as he could given the situation and found himself growling almost audibly.

Yuuma could see his anger and sent a mocking smile his way. "What's the matter, Naruto," she mocked once again, even dropping the san suffix she had been previously adding to his name. "Are you upset that I heart the poor pervert's feelings? Do you want to come over here and punch the crap out of me?" She waved her hand and before he knew it, four small spears of light hit the bindings with pin point accuracy and cut right through them as though they were paper.

Naruto felt himself fall and put his palm toward the ground, catching himself before he fell completely and landing on all fours. The blonde looked up at the women as she sent him a sadistic smile. "Come on big boy," she taunted while floating next to Issei, who stared at the ground with hollow eyes. "You want to hurt me for breaking his heart? Then come and punch me. I dare you! No!" Her eyes took a sadistic gleam. "I insist!"

For the first time in as long as he could remember, Naruto did not care about the consequences of his actions. He did not feel like thinking about the possible outcomes of what he was going to do. He did not take time to think about a possible escape plan now that he was free. He did not think about anything else except for one thing that cause rage to fill his heart, mind, body, and soul.

He was going to hurt her for causing his friend pain and no one was going to stop him.

"_**Naruto,"**_ shouted the prideful voice from within his mind. _**"What are you doing boy! As much as I don't want to say this now is not the time for action. It is the time to think smart."**_

"_And with all due respect 'Mr. Voice Inside My Head,' this is not something I can forgive! I'm not going to let this bitch get away with what she is doing to us… with what she did to Issei."_ The blonde clenched his hands almost drawing blood. _"For the first time in my life, I'm tired of being afraid. I'm tired of over thinking every single goddamned thing! I'm going to punch this bitch in the face!"_

The blonde rushed forward, pumping his legs as fast as he could. For everyone else it might have seemed like a few seconds in time but for Naruto it felt like forever. A thousand thoughts ran through his head a mile a minute. None of them were thoughts about the hopelessness of the situation. None of them were thoughts about how careless what he was about to do was. None of them were about how foolish that he was for his actions.

No, the one thing that reverberated through his mind at that moment was to protect his friend from the mental harm and physical harm that was about to befall them. That was what drove him right now and it was because of a memory of a time he could not remember, in a place where the stood taller than some buildings, with a person he could not quite remember.

_He was awoken from his sleeping state, groggy and still tired from his previous activities. He forgot what he had been doing at the time or if it even really mattered. However that soft, effeminate voice wakened him from his slumber and he was kind of happy she had._

_Upon opening his eyes, he saw a stunning pair of brown eyes of a beautiful girl looking down at him with concern. Her smooth face was framed by the silky black locks that framed her face. Her lips were held in a firm frown of concern. It was at this moment that he had thought that he had met a beauty of ethereal proportions. He felt as though he could not have been happier._

_He slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes with his free hand, ignoring the hand with the… kunai? Why did he have a kunai in his hands? For that matter why was he wearing a full orange jumpsuit. His mother had never bought him one of those! The one time he had tried to convince her to by him the one he had seen in the store she had said she would "never let her boy wear such a hideous outfit." So where in hell had he gotten one?_

"_Who are you," he felt himself ask in a voice that was slightly a tone lighter than his own. He stared at the girl and her frilly looking pink sleeveless kimono sitting down near him with a basket at her side. _

_He had never met this girl before! Hell, he didn't even remember being in this forest! What the heck was going on! Heck, she did not answer but asked if he would be willing to assist her in picking up some herbs that she needed, which for some reason he felt his body jump up against its will and his voice promise her with assistance._

_What was going on? Around the age he was in this memory, seemingly twelve, he was never this happy. He never sat there humming a tune of some kind while helping a stranger pick up herbs. He was always too scared to do anything to do something like that. The voices that talked to him all the time had always made him nervous to the point where only Issei and his parents could calm him down. He would never have been able to sit here doing something like this yet here he was, in a forest he could not make out, with a person he never remembered meeting, with all sorts of other oddities that were out of character for him._

"_Hey," he felt himself shout while picking up another herb. "Hey! Have I picked enough of those herbs you wanted?" He pulled out another one and threw it over to the girl, how caught it without even looking up in a surprising act of dexterity. "Are these weeds and grasses really medicinal?"_

_Instead of answering his question once again, she said something different. "I'm sorry to have imposed on you."_

_He felt himself snort. "That's some job you took on girl…," he paused momentarily as he picked up another herb. "Harvesting all that this early in the morning." He thumbed toward the basket near her side that was already three fourths of the way full. He felt himself agree with his past self. The girl truly did have a lot of herbs. It almost made him wonder what she was planning on doing with the stuff._

_She momentarily looked up and pouted at him. "Look who's talking," she returned. "What were you doing in the middle of nowhere at the crack of dawn?"_

_He felt his body tense as his voice shouted out "Training!" Training? He was training? Naruto had never trained a day in his life as far as he could remember, yet alone never get up at the crack of dawn to do so! Why the heck would he be training?_

_The girl adopted a thoughtful look as she processed the information. After that is seemed she stared at his forehead where he usually put his goggles. "Really," she finally asked. "That headband you're wearing…, are you some kind of ninja?"_

_Naruto would have scoffed if he could. Ninja! There is no way that he was a ninja. While ninja probably did share his sense of paranoia, Naruto was never a ninja of that much he was sure! That was freaking impossible!_

_His younger self seemed to disagree with the sentiment, suddenly growing excited. "Why? Do you really think I look like one? Really? Because I am!"_

_It was at this point that Naruto decided that his younger self was an idiot and that this was all a dream of some kind. A ninja? Really? Of all the different things he could have thought was a memory his mind had to create up a one where he was a ninja? Seriously? If he was a bloody ninja than why the hell did he wear so much orange? Aren't ninja supposed to be like super stealthy guys that wear all black and are not as loud as he was?_

_But instead of denying the claim like most smart people would in this situation, the young woman looked at him almost amazed. "Wow," she said in a voice akin to awe. "That's incredible."_

_He felt his younger self giggle. Personally he found it unbelievable that the woman before him bought the idea that his younger looking self was actually a ninja! The large amounts of orange should have pointed out otherwise yet she believed it? She looked so much smarter than that!_

_While she was looking back down at her work, the girl asked another question of him. "What are you training for?" Naruto found himself, despite his firm belief that this was a dream, wanting to know wanted to know his younger self's reasoning as well. What was he training for? Of course he thought ninja would train but why was his younger self doing so specifically?_

_He felt a grin tug up on his young bodies lips. "To build up my strength." Well that wasn't as good a reason as he was hoping for. Sure being strong would probably be cool but that was it?_

_The girl seemed to humor him. "But… but you look so strong and mainly already!"_

"_Nope! Wrong!" His younger self apparently was a bit of a shouter. "I need to be a lot stronger than this!"_

_The girl seemed hesitant to ask but forced herself to do so. "But… why?"_

_It was a fair question. It only seemed that his younger self wanted to become strong just for the sake of becoming strong. It almost as though seemed that there was no reasoning behind his thought process._

_His younger self just grinned and brought up his small fist toward his face as he felt the voice that was not his own again leave the bodies mouth. "To become top dog in in my home town!" What? Oh god. He really hoped his younger self wasn't talking about becoming a yakuza or something like that because then that would just only prove those kids at school right! "All the people who used to treat me like dirt will have to say 'He's the number one ninja'! And right at the moment, I kind of have to prove a point… to a certain person I know."_

_People treating him like dirt, huh? Naruto supposed he could relate to his young self's feelings somewhat with how the kids at school. The treated him rather nastily for his delinquent looking appearance. The Japanese then again never did like it when someone was out of place. Like the rest of the school was to talk. For kami's sake what about people like that Rias Gremory chick or that Kiba Yuuto guy? They had irregular hair colors too yet they were the queen and prince of the school respectively. Maybe it was because of his slightly taller appearance or the whisker like scars he had on his cheeks that added to the look. _

_For whatever the reason was, however, people treated him like dirt. Always calling him names and keeping away from him all because they thought he was some member of the Japanese mob. It was so hurtful sometimes that he remembered back when he was younger that he would sometimes come home from school crying and his mother would have to calm him down. The only people who stood beside him were his parent's, Issei, and usually his teachers who recognized the situation was not all like it seemed._

_The girl gained a stern look. "Are you doing this for the sake of that person," she began, "or for your own satisfaction?"_

"_What," his voice asked as he felt the muscles on his face freeze up in confusion. The girl just giggled at his confusion, sounding quite cute. His young self was not amused however and shouted out in indignation "What's so funny?"_

"_Do you have anyone special in your life," she asked him softly. While his younger self seemed to be thinking about it, Naruto himself acknowledged that he did have special people in his life. His parents, who were always incredibly supportive of him, for one. The other two were Issei and Irina, the former more than the latter slightly due to him having to leave when the three of them were nine. But yes, he did have people in his life who he did consider precious._

_The girl continued heedless of the confusion of his young self. "When people are protecting something truly precious to them, they truly can become as strong as they must be!"_

_Naruto found himself at a loss for words while his young self seemed to have the same reaction. This girl had just told him that to become strong, he needed to have people that he was willing to protect. That he would have to have people that he was more than not willing to lay his life on the line for. It made so much sense to him now. That was how you truly gained strength?_

_Yes. The girl might have been on to something! She might have truly been on to something! After all... _ he was going to be delivering a punch to the face to the girl who had just hurt his best friend.

"_Yes,"_ he thought to himself as he felt like he had suddenly gained a new burst of speed. Looking at the widening eyes of Yuuma he could tell that he had, after all, it seems she was surprised by the new burst of energy he had. Or maybe she was surprised by the strange energy that had seemed to be gathering in the fist that he had held back in his preparation to punch her. Whatever the energy was though, he didn't give a shit! All he knew was that he was going to follow the ideal of that girl who said that he could only have strength if he protected the people close to him and he was going to drive it into her face!

"_**I don't believe it,"**_stated the cruel sounding voice from within his mind, ever so softly it almost had made it past him. _**"I just can't freaking believe it. He actually managed to remember that? Of all the things we've tried to slowly remind him of over the year's that's the thing he remembers?"**_

But the blonde did not get what the voice meant nor at this point did he care. This ideal, for whatever reason, made sense to him! He could almost feel it did as more of the strange energy gathered in his fist, causing it to shine brightly like a shooting star in the night. He was going to hit that girl with it and he was going to knock her flat on her ass!

He reached the end of the platform and jumped at the girl who had once been Issei's loving girlfriend, ignoring the shocked look he received from his friend for doing so. He almost felt as though he was soaring through the air as he got closer to Yuuma, who was staring at him in horror. Naruto growled at her. "Wasn't expecting this, were you bitch," he shouted out angrily as he threw his fist, and the energy that had apparently be stored in it, toward her.

She suddenly gained a nasty look in her eyes. "No," she replied softly. "No I wasn't." And just as he was about to hit her, she suddenly faded from view, shocking Naruto to his core as he felt a burst of air appear in back of him and someone leaning in close behind him. "But don't you dare think it is enough to actually hurt me, fool."

He felt Yuuma's foot lash out with an almost bone shattering kick and sent him flying toward the large gathering of priests, who moved away from the scene as he impact the ground hard. He flew face first into cold stone floor and began skidding across the ground at an unbelievable pace. His face was in pain and he could feel that skidding across the ground has opened new wounds on his head, blood splashing up against the floor as he slid.

"_I need to stop sliding,"_ he thought desperately, barely managing to notice that he was quickly approaching the wall at almost break neck speeds. Forcing his body to ignore the pain, he quickly pushed his feet downwards and forced them against the ground. A screeching sound echoed throughout the room as the toe of his sneaker scraped against the floor, allowing him to slow down enough to force his hands on the ground to bring him to a full stop.

Ignoring the fact that he was on all fours essentially, he rushed forward again, his sights still set of the smirking form of Yuuma, floating in the air. "Yuuma," he shouted, rushing forward once again and managing to get up mid run. He drew on the same thoughts he had before, the same feelings of wanting to protect Issei, and cocked his fist back again. He could once again feel the unknown energy pool in his fist, once again beginning to glow brightly.

Unfortunately, he had not noticed the priests, who had moved out of the way before, had now gathered on either side of him and were not too keen on letting him attack again. Two priests suddenly grabbed both his arms, holding on to him tightly as another one charged in with a glowing sword in hand, thrown forward in a stabbing motion.

Knowing that if he was hit it was over the blonde managed to duck, if barely, as the priests sword stabbed the air between the two other men of the cloth holding his arms. Using the small amount of momentum he had gained from his run, Naruto managed to free the arm with the fist charged with energy and gave the sword priest an upper cut to the chin, causing his head to explode in a bright shower of gore as the pent up energy released in one burst.

Adrenaline still pumping, the boy who had never fought a day in his life preformed a sweep kick, knocking the legs out from under the priests who had held his arms. Another set of priests came forward with swords of their own and swung at him all at once. Almost instinctually, the blonde pumped the mystic like energy to his legs and jumped. It was almost as though he flew over the group of three.

Landing the blonde then again began running forward. He was getting close to Yuuma again. All he needed to do was just make up that short…

"I grow tired of this," said a soft female voice as the blue haired woman appeared before him and delivered a quick punch to his solar plexus, causing him to fall down face first into the ground. Naruto once again tried to ignore the pain, pushing up with his hands to look directly up at the woman. What he saw scared him. In her hand was a shining spear. A spear of light. Her face held a grim look as she stabbed downward, piercing his left hand.

The whiskered teen screamed out in pain as he felt the spear go straight through his palm with little to no resistance from the bone what so ever. He could literally feel the intense heat of the spear burning his palm. He attempted to grab at the spear with his hand but was unable to as the busty woman brought down her foot on his right arm and then stabbed at it with another spear of light, intensifying his screams of agony.

The blonde vaguely heard his friend shout his name in despair but, in that moment, he felt nothing and heard nothing because nothing else existed but pain. The bars of heat that pressed through the entirety of his hand felt as though burned his hand's insides. He was too scared to even attempt to pull them out as blood dripped down from his forehead and hit the searing bars, creating a soft his as the blood boiled and burned.

"Thank you for that Kalawarner," said the voice of Yuuma as he once again looked up to see her looking down on him from the air in distain. The blue hair woman, know knowing that she was the Kalawarner who had spoken previously, only nodded. Yuuma continued to look at him. "Did you honestly think that you could have beaten us? Really?"

"She is right," spoke Dohnaseek from the side. "While I must admit that you're sudden awakening to your magical abilities for the first time was quite shocking, including the ability to use them, the fact is that even then you still would not have been able to win. The fact is that everyone in this room has lived at least once of your human lifetimes. We have more experience than you likely ever would gain had you lived. You had no chance."

"Still," Yuuma continued, picking up from where her cohort left off, "I must admit it was quite brave of you to try and fight. Most of the captives were too scared out of their wits to even try. You even managed to beat some of the priests, killed one too! That says a lot about your talent and if I didn't have to kill you, I think Azazel-sama would have loved to get his hands on you." She sighed and shifted her hand faintly. "How unfortunate."

Yuuma slowly landed in front of Issei once again, standing right next to the cross that held the friend that was shouting his name. She cupped his chin lightly while he whimpered her name. "Yuuma, please stop this," he tried pleading once again. "At least let Naruto go! He had nothing to do with this!"

Yuuma scowled at him and punched him in the stomach, causing him to grunt in pain and Naruto to startle. "Oh please just stop shouting that name! 'Yuuma!' 'Yuuma!' 'Yuuma!' Heck my name isn't even Yuuma!" She than began kicking him in the stomach. "It's Raynare. Can you say it with me now?" She began to kick him even harder. "Ray," another kick, "Nare!"As she finally finished kicking Issei's head fell down and he coughed up blood, the red liquid spreading across the floor.

Naruto didn't care how much pain he was in now. He needed to get out. And so he struggled, the light spears further searing his flesh as he struggled in them. "Hang on Issei," he cried, his voice cracking from his own painful experience. "I'm going to get you out of there! Just hang on!"

Yuuma… no Raynare, as she had insisted was her name, smiled mockingly at him. "That's right Naruto, keep struggling. It's so much fun to watch." She looked at Issei and then turned back to him with a small sneer on her face. "Actually Naruto, remember how I never gave you a full answer to why we kidnapped you two? Well why don't I use Issei to show you?" She then thrust her hand towards Issei's heart, stopping about an inch away from it as a green light appeared between his chest and her hand. A runic looking circle under the platform began to light up as Issei's head burst up and he screamed in agony.

"Stop it," Naruto shouted out in rage as his he felt his body become hot, as though it were beginning to release the mystic energy he had managed to tap into all over his body.

"_**Naruto, this is it,"**_ shouted the cruel sounding voice. _**"We've almost managed to unlock all of your magical ability. Just hang on for a little while longer!"**_

"_HURRY," _the blonde shouted in his mind, not even caring if they were figments of his imagination anymore. It gave him something to hold on to, something to allow him to hope that they could get out of this. _"Issei won't survive much longer! Please hurry it up!"_

"_**We're going as fast as we can brat! Give us a bit!"**_

"_I DON'T HAVE A BIT,"_ he returned in rage, finally feeling his body gain an overwhelming amount of magical power. His problem right now is that he didn't know how to break the light spears and he didn't have time to experiment. He just had to go with the flow for now and try anything he could. He channeled magical energy to his hand again and began to feel the spear of light waver in its form. _"Come on, come on, come on,"_ he chanted to himself as though it were a mantra and began to feel the spear waver in strength.

"Naruto," he heard someone weakly call to him. He looked up to see Issei, looking down at him with sad eyes as the green light pooling in his captors fingers seemed to intensify. "Naruto, I don't think I'm going to make it."

"Don't say that," Naruto shouted angrily at him, tears starting to stream down his eyes. "Don't say that you damned perv. Remember, I said I'd get you out of there and you know me Issei! I don't go back on my word! Just hang on a little bit longer, I'll be right there! I promise."

He heard Raynare laugh, causing him to get angrier. "That's right Naruto," she sadistically purred. "Lie to Issei. Make him feel better knowing that you're going to come and save him from me. I'm sure he can feel it, the life draining right out of him! Tell him that you'll come and save him even though he already knows that he is going to die!" Suddenly, Raynare felt something wet on her cheek and scrapped of what it was with her hand. It was blood. She looked back toward Issei and saw him with blood dripping from his mouth. "You little…"

"Shut up Raynare," he said fiercely, her name almost spat out like it was a bad taste in his mouth. "Can't you see that the men are trying to talk while you're spewing your stupid monolog?" He looked back toward his struggling friend, ignoring the fact that Raynare had increased the intensity of what she was doing. "Hey Naruto, listen to me, I need you to do something for me when you get out of here."

"Shut up, Issei," shouted Naruto, the tears still flowing as he continued to pump energy though his hand. "Were going to get out of here together. You can do whatever you wanted me to when we get out of here. I'll even do whatever it is you want this time," he cried desperately. "You want me to spy on the girl's kendo team with you, Matsuda, and Motohama I'll gladly do so! You want me to help you pick up a real girlfriend? I'll be the first to help you and I'll even try and be your wingman even though I don't know how! You want me to help you build an actual harem and make it fucking legal? I'll not only help you collect the girls but I'll run for prime minister and make that the first thing on my agenda! You better not give up though… cause I'm gonna get you out of here!"

"Naruto, listen to me," Issei cried out, not from pain but to get Naruto to listen. "I want you to do this for me! Do you hear me?"

"Yeah," the blonde cried softly to himself, finally feeling as though he were about to break the first spear. "I hear you loud and clear!"

"Good cause I got three things to tell you that you better do! The first one is to stop using your goddamned head so much! If there was one thing that always annoyed me about you it was that you thought with your head instead of with your heart and your guts! Stop over relying on that damned noggin of yours all the time! It's made you so paranoid and it's partially why people don't want to be around you. Don't listen to what those damned voices in your head say unless it's something helpful or about how a girl has a nice pair of breast, you got me?"

Naruto nodded his head slightly. "Yeah, I got you," he shouted as he finally, after fiddling around with it a little more, managed to break the light spear that held down his left hand. "I hear you loud and clear! I'll start thinking with my heart and my guts a little more as soon as I get us both out of here. You can count on that." Ignoring the fact that he was just barely able to feel his hand move, Naruto pulled it off the ground and used it to grip the other light spear's shaft, ignoring the tears of pain.

"Second thing," Issei continued, ignoring the last thing Naruto had said, "I want you to trust people more often. I admit, I might have been wrong this time about this person, but you really do need to trust people more. Go make more friends and don't sit there moping about the one you lost! You need to go out and get some new experiences! Stop living life in that comfortable box of yours and meet some new fucking people already!"

"I hear you loud and clear Issei," Naruto said and he continued to pull on the spear with his hand to no avail and tried channeling magic to his left hand to disrupt the spear's flow. "Don't worry I hear you loud and clear. Start trusting people more! Yup! I got that sealed up in my head for when you and I go to the park tomorrow. We can invite Matsuda and Motohama. Hell maybe I'll even invite Sona and Tsubaki. They'll probably both say no but I will have at least tried, you know."

"And finally Naruto, and this is the most important one so pay attention!"

"I'm listening Issei, just keep talking ok," Naruto cried, the tears coming down and hitting the light spear creating a sizzling sound. "Just hang on. I'm coming you bastard so don't die on me just yet!"

"I'm leaving you my dream Naruto," Issei shouted, tears too streaming down his face. "I want you to get out of here and I want you to become the king of harems in my place."

"No way, that title is meant for you and you only. Remember, I'm your faithful servant! I'm supposed to help you collect the girls and make the damned thing. You even promised me you would grace me with my own, remember? You can't die because you'll break the promise, you know!"

"That's why I'm leaving you my dream, Naruto! I want you to do it in my place! Become the king of harems so I can look down from wherever the hell I am, laugh to the guy next to me, and say 'you see that guy down there with all the woman! I taught him everything he knows! That man is surrounded by beautiful ladies because of me!' Do you hear me?"

"No, that one I can't do," shouted Naruto. "I have nowhere near your skill set to do it! I need someone to guide me! To show me the way so that I can build one, you know! I can't do it without my best friend! So that's why you need to live!"

"You can do it without me Naruto," Issei stated like it was a fact. "You'll do just fine! Now promise me that you'll do it!"

Naruto cried. "Yes, I'll do it," he shouted. "I'll do ask you ask of me. Just hang on. I've almost got it!" It was true, the spear just needed a little bit more of a push and a tug and he would have it out. "Just hang on until then." Feeling despite, he called out into his mind. _"Hey, voices, whatever the hell you are! You said you were almost done before! So where the fuck is that power surge! Come on!"_

"_**Just need another minute,"**_ shouted the prideful voice through what sounded like grit teeth.

"_I don't have another fucking…"_

"Naruto," Issei shouted out, regaining his attention as the light in Raynare's palm seemed almost to be bursting and the circle below grew brighter. "One last thing." His breathing began to get heavy and life slowly drained from his face. "Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for standing by me whenever I did something stupid. Thanks for helping me get into Kuoh so I could live out my dreams if only for a little bit. Thank you for always being by my side when I needed a helping hand, even in the times I didn't deserve it. Just thank you so much for everything."

There was a sudden flash of light as the glow in Raynare's hand disappeared and in its place was a red gauntlet with a green gem in the center of the hand. The gauntlet looked scaled, almost like that of a dragon's claw. Raynare looked at the gauntlet in her hand in sneered in distaste. "It's just a crummy **[Twice Critical]** even if it looks slightly different than the norm." She then stared at Issei with a sour look on her face. "And here I was hoping the time I put in wouldn't have gone to waste. Pity."

Issei however continued to stare at Naruto, the light leaving his eyes. "Naruto," he gasped. "Thank you for everything." His face finally turned corpse pale and his once vibrant eyes diminished in color. "Now get out of here and live… live for both of us!" He continued gasping. "Live for both of us… brother!" And with that, Issei Hyoudou, stopped gasping and his head fell forward, his chest no longer rising.

Naruto stared at Issei's prone form, his mouth opened in shock. The spear that he had once been trying to pull out went on ignored, tears still falling from the blonde's eyes and sizzling on it as they hit. At this moment he felt no pain. He felt now sadness. He felt nothing whatsoever. He just continued to stare at his friend… no… brother's prone form as it just continued to stay in place. Unmoving, no signs of life to speak of at all.

The blonde felt like he had every time he woke up in the morning every day for as long as he could remember. He felt numb. Inside and out. It was heart wrenching.

"Oh for lord's sake," said Raynare as she looked at Naruto's still form. "Get over it boy! He was just a worthless pervert anyway! There was nothing special about him! He was a meaningless existence!"

Naruto felt something in him snap, not just from anger, but as though he had been given new power to work with.

"_**I'm sorry Naruto,"**_ said the passive sounding voice, full of regret. _**"We couldn't unleash your power in time. I'm sorry."**_

The words never reached his ears. He could not take it. These bastards. He gripped his one moveable hand. These bastards had killed his brother! THESE BASTARDS KILLED HIS BROTHER! THEY KILLED ISSEI!

Suddenly, a well of magical power was felt all over the room as the fallen angels and remaining priests looked toward Naruto in shock. The power was literally rolling off him in waves as an ethereal blue light burst from him and into the room. His power continued to grow until the sheer force of it began to eclipse that of the fallen's as a whole.

"Raynare," shouted Mittelt. "What is this? The sheer power of this human… it shouldn't be possible for someone who just awakened to their abilities!"

Raynare grunted though the fear on her face was clearly visible. "I don't know! He had power but I didn't think there was that much power in him! This is clearly Dominion class angel in power! He wasn't supposed to have this much!" With her free hand she motioned the priests toward Naruto's form. "Don't just stand there you idiots! Kill him!"

Upon her orders all of the priests removed a small holster from under their cloaks and ignited swords of white light. They charged toward the boy, intending to kill him with a thrust of their swords. Raynare and her fellow fallen too prepared their own light spears and fired them towards the blonde. Just as all attacks were about to reach his person, they heard him roar to the heavens "JUST DIE YOU BASTARDS!" All of the sudden, his power exploded outward and the world disappeared in white light.

And thus the world changed once more… for better or for worse.

(Life End)

* * *

(Preview)

The white world disappears as darkness settles in. What was once hope turns to despair as boy now feels lost. One once said people tend to find themselves in the dark. But that boy didn't need to find himself, he just wanted to survive the night with a body on his back and his wits at an end, hoping that there was still a chance to save a friend.

Next Life: Survive

What will seek you in the dark?

* * *

**Authors Note:**

**Thank you for once again reading another chapter of Dragon of a Different Kind. I really appreciate you for your support in this endeavor and I hoped you liked the chapter despite the fact that some of you by the end of it more likely than not want to kill me for it. Please bear with me because by the end of this note you will have a lot of your questions answered hopefully.**

**Now I would like to take this time to address some things about the chapter.**

**The Overall Setting: I hoped that you honestly liked the atmosphere of the setting. I tried to make it as creepy and foreboding as possible, especially since that this is such a different beginning from most High School DXD stories where Issei and Naruto are killed by Raynare in the park usually. I tried to be different with it because I did not want the story to follow a similar cliché that some of the stories that I've read do. I hope I've done a good enough job to satisfy you with this in mind. For those of you who do not recognize the setting though, I based it off the sacred gear extraction area in Volume One of the light novels.**

**Raynare and the Other Fallen Angels: I like to think I took some liberty with them, especially Raynare. I decided that I wanted Naruto's first introduction to the supernatural world to be darker than most other stories try. With that in mind I made Raynare a bit more malicious and I made Mittelt sound slightly more psychotic as well. I did this especially considering in the novels, anime, and wiki their personalities are not quite really expanded upon beyond those of what I like to call "Canon Introduction Villain Syndrome," which usually means their just their for the hero's to grind their teeth on slightly and typically aren't all that challenging.**

**Memory Experience: I wanted to make Naruto's experience with memories slightly different than other stories typically do. Instead of just having another section for flashbacks entirely, almost as though they interrupt the story, I tried incorporating the flash back in the actual scenario. I think it would be a lot more interesting and I tried quite a bit to make sure I ended up getting the overall feeling right. I hope you liked it but if not leave your criticisms with it in a review and I'll think about how I can work around or change it.**

**Naruto's Magical Abilities: I did not reveal too much on his overall magic abilities. I took a little bit of liberty with it, especially since his magic will be different from standard wizard magic. If you have any comments or suggestions about it leave a review.**

**Issei's Death Scene: This is the thing that everyone will more likely than not either praise me for or kill me for. Probably the latter more than the former. First of all I would like to say that it was a very hard decision for me to make to do this. However, I decided that if I was going to be able to shape the plot the way I wanted to then I had to do this. He is after, despite some of my criticisms of his character, my literal favorite in the series because he just is that fun. Seriously. Only with him would you be able to hear something as absurd about receiving assistance from the breast fairy to defeat a god! I laugh my ass off whenever I think about it.**

**With that said however, in order to shape the Naruto of this story the way I wanted to I needed someone important to Naruto to die and while it might have been better to write in just a random OC for that it still would have just not worked. However you may feel about it, I hoped you at least liked the way he went out. I tried to give him a badass moment to go out to as just an opposed "poof your dead" type deal. I honestly had a hard time writing it because I got a little teary eyed doing it slightly. I tired my best to make it as real as possible and I hope it at least struck a cord with you in some way if only to inspire you're incredible hate for me.**

**Now that that is out of the way, I want to talk about overall story direction and I will be reiterating some things from my author's note last chapter to help you understand the overall direction this story is taking.**

**Plot: Once again, Naruto will not become a devil and will remain human. That will not change. That means no joining Rias's or Sona's peerages, no joining a freaking Satan's peerage, not joining heaven after they get their card system thing going; Naruto is staying strictly human. Will he be friends with people of other races though? Absolutely. But for the plot of the story I developed Naruto needs to stay human in order for to work, especially since the arcs that I made to go with the story only rely heavily on the fact as some have nothing to do with the original light novels or anime itself. They are good old fashioned original arcs.**

**Chapters: Please do not always expect to me to make chapters incredibly long. After much thought process I figured out it is what killed the original version of my "The New Devil" story for me. I tried to make it so long to the point where I made one chapter like 25,000 words and another like only 12,000. I am trying to write with details and explain thoughts and feelings so it takes a little longer to write than the average chapter. With that said don't expect a chapter that is like 25,000 words. There will be times where I leave it with cliff hangers because I feel they are necessary for suspense or because I just want to get it published. Please expect chapters to only be between 12,000 – 15,000 words. Maybe I will write more in a chapter if I am in a good mood or I feel I should for plot sake but overall this is the best you can expect. I will try and do them as fast as possible but please give me at least 2 weeks before you start spamming me asking me where a new chapter is. Also, if you have not noticed, chapters will also have a preview of what the next chapter will be like. I kind of got the idea for doing that from NeonZangestu, a very good writer I would like to say, though instead of giving you a cut out of the actual next chapter I will be leaving it a little more ambiguous too! By the way, if the story gets popular enough I may do a few omakes as well.**

**Naruto's Abilities: Naruto's overall abilities will be a mix of physical and magical combat. He will know and be capable of some canon spells but he will have his own originals to as Naruto's magic is not like that of a normal humans. As for full details of his magical abilities, if you stick around you will find out next chapter with much greater elaboration two chapters after.**

**Naruto himself: A lot of you commented that he was an OC last chapter with the Naruto name as well as just his appearance. While it may seem like that I hoped that this chapter made you think slightly differently, especially since that whole memory I brought up was in fact one directly from the manga. He is canon Naruto for the most part but due to what for now I will call memory loss it will take some time for him to regain full Naruto-ness. His magic will also revolve around his original abilities slightly so it is not an incredible change. As for why he is the way he is… well if you're interested you need to keep reading.**

**Original Arcs: As I said in the previous chapter I have fashioned together some original arcs that I think will go perfect in the world of High School DXD. I've already got four – yes four- original arc all planed out and revolving around the organization that Naruto will be joining, a group that I also would like to think is the first of its kind within this crossover section so please do look out for it.**

**Now that all is said and done I once again hope to see you all next chapter. If you do not wish to continue reading due to the Issei death I understand but please note that it will be getting good soon. As always, please feel free to leave a review as I always love to hear from the readers about what they like, what they didn't, what they would suggest, or whatever. All reviews are welcome… even flamers because let's face it flamers leave the funniest comments.**

**Have a good Saturday evening or what day or time it is whenever you're reading this!**


	3. Life 3: Survive

**Please read the authors note at the end of the chapter for important story notes and an announcement from the author. He would really appreciate it if you read it. You can't miss it because it's right after the preview for next chapter.**

Disclaimer: DarkNaruto101 does not own Naruto or High School DXD. Those belong to their respective authors and distributors. Please support the official release of the series!

Life 3: Survive

Releasing a large pent up amount of energy with the explosive force of a small bomb blast was something that Naruto decided he would never do again if he could avoid it. From the sound of things it had seemed to work… but it tended to leave you with a pained impression due to the amount of agony you were in when you next woke up. It almost felt as though his skin was trying to burn off his body from the inside out, his blood boiling inside his veins and his bones feeling almost as though they had been cracked in certain places. No, Naruto decided if the worst ever came to worst he would not be using his body as some kind of thermal nuclear device ever again. He would rather avoid the pain if he could.

He could say the same thing now in which, after suddenly opening his eyes and feeling his senses all come back to him at once, he let out a sharp agonizing scream in from his incredibly dry throat. As he howled he felt the back of his throat crack almost as though it were glass. He managed to mentally snort to himself over the pain that flooded the various receptors in his body. _"Yup,"_ he thought to himself dryly, eyes still closed and ears ringing. _"Who would have thought turning your body into a makeshift bomb would leave you so parched?"_

He heard a snort from within his head. _**"I could have told you that much,"**_ the cruel sounding voice, one of the many that occupied his head, said in an almost melancholic manner. _**"I thought you were supposed to be smart? Last I checked blowing yourself and everything around you to kingdom come did not fall under the 'the quantifiably smart' category."**_

"_**Give the kid a break bro,"**_ shouted the energetic voice, only furthering the growing headache the blonde seemed to be developing. Did they not know the meaning of indoor voices? Or would the term in head voices be more apt for their situation? At the moment, with his entire body in pain, in various ways he had never even imagined before, he found himself unable to give a flying fuck about the thought. _**"I mean seriously, he was going to be on the incredibly unlucky end of several different sharp and pointy light objects. With the amount of knowledge both we and he have we were just really lucky he did go boom, you know?"**_

"_Wait a second…"_ the small rational part of Naruto's brain processed. _"Do you mean to tell me that you morons went MESSING WITH A POWER THAT YOU GUYS DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND YET? ARE YOU SERIOUS? WHAT IF THE SITUATION HAD GOTTEN WORSE?"_

"_**To be fair,"**_ tried a diplomatic voice, _**"you only did explode. No harm done, right?"**_

"_No harm done except for the fact that I exploded! Are you mad?"_

"_**No, that's me,"**_ said a sadistic sounding voice, the one that usually taunted him.

"_**Shut up Shukaku,"**_ shouted all of the other voices in his head, causing him to groan hoarsely at the combined shouting and overall pain flowing through his body.

"_Great,"_ he thought to himself in annoyance as he continued to attempt to open his eyes to no avail. _"Wonderful. The voices in my head have decided to give each other names. Just freaking great."_ He tried to move anything he could but could only make his toes and fingers curl lightly, something which almost put him in a large amount of agony just to do so. _"Well, this couldn't get any worse."_

"_**Any worse besides you friend being dead and you being in large amount of pain,"**_ once again commented the voice whom everyone had called Shukaku.

"_**Shukaku,"**_ once again shouted the other voices in unison only for the blonde to ignore their squabbling them in favor of remembering the words that the voice had just uttered.

Friend dead? Him exploding? His friend was dead? He exploded because his friend was dead? Issei was dead and he exploded? Issei was dead? Issei was dead. The words took a while to finally make sense to him, honestly believing that they would never be uttered in the same sentence. And yet they were there, clear as day.

"_No," _Naruto thought desperately. _"Issei couldn't be dead. He was only knocked out when Yuum… Raynare pulled that red gauntlet thing from his chest. He was just knocked out. That had to be it."_

"_**Naruto,"**_tried the diplomatic voice, _**"I don't think that's…"**_

"_**Stop,"**_ commanded the cruel voice, sounding almost as though it pitied him. _**"Just give him this much for a little while."**_Why would the stupid voice in his head pity him? It was obvious that Issei was alive. He had to be alive. There was no way his buddy could die in such a cool manner with ending speech in all. It just was not supposed to happen.

His best friend was a pervert. He did not get to go out in a manner that was becoming of a hero from some manga! That was just not Issei's thing. He was supposed to be that invincible comedy relief character, that guy that always made you laugh with his crazy antics before being comically punched in the face and sent flying only to pop up couple seconds later like nothing happened to him.

So Issei couldn't be dead. Issei did not get to die.

Naruto ignored the pain in his body as he attempted to stand, trying to force himself up. He had to get up! He had to check on Issei! He had to make sure his friend was ok!

As he forced himself to activate his senses Naruto began to smell the thick scent of smoke enter his nostrils, filling senses with a shuddering feeling. He steadied himself and took a deep breath only to regret his folly as he felt the smoke enter his longs and send him into a fit of coughing. He could feel wisps of some run through his fingers and he continued to inhale lightly, trying take in the least amount of smoke possible into his body. He opened his eyes and felt them begin to burn as the inky black air filled his vision. Just how much damage had he caused?

Apparently a lot. For one thing the room was no longer a room as much as it was just a giant well-built hole in the ground. The stone roof of the room had been completely obliterated, the only thing still standing barely being the top of the building that was currently on fire. That too had a giant hole in the flaming roof, smoke rising out of it covering most of the visage of the sky. He could feel wind blow down through the hole though, fanning the flames in the chamber and on the roof. He could feel the very wind rustle against his skin and in a way, despite having felt it a million times before now, he felt something new about it. It felt different, almost foreign now as though he had never knew what it truly felt like before.

This new feeling got the blood pumping. It made him, despite the situation, slightly excited. He used that excitement, that new flow of energy, to his advantage.

He ignored the open wounds on his hand and rubbed them against the hard floor as he pushed himself up into a sitting up position. His back was luckily ok it seems as that was probably the only part of his body not in a pain of some kind. He did a once over of himself, moving his sore arms around to get a feel for them and inspected his right hand rather closely. It appeared to have a long wide gash that seemed to have crusted over to heal. His left hand did not seem to suffer any damage either.

He then ran his free hand along his head feeling for the gash that was once there, dripping blood as he fought his way through the leagues of priests that had stood before him and his target. After rubbing his head he noticed that the gash too seemed to have disappeared almost miraculously. It was rather thin but there still should have been a line of some kind that had scabbed over, shouldn't there.

"_**That was us, kid,"**_ chimed the proud sounding voice from his mind. _**"We directed your power all over your body and managed to heal it quite extensively. Believe it or not you were quite the mess before you woke up. Broken bones, gashes of different kinds and sizes all over your body, trauma to the head, and all sorts of other nice medical problems for you. Using some of your power we kind of managed to, how you say, fixed you up like magic."**_

"You're telling me you fixed me you fixed me up with magic," Naruto intoned vocally, almost as though he were in disbelief. Magic was just a myth, something you told to kids in fairy tales. It wasn't supposed to be real.

"_**If you remember those fallen angel guys weren't supposed to be real either yet here we are,"**_ remarked the cruel sounding voice sarcastically. _**"Listen, I don't know nor do I care if you think this is real at the moment. In case you have not noticed you are in the middle of, judging by the smoke, some shit hole that is burning. Now I don't know about you but for those who don't know how what it does fire plus flesh equals you on fire and in immense amounts of pain. So with that in mind can we please focus on getting out of here?"**_

Naruto might have made a snarky reply to the voice but realized for the most part it was correct. The situation that they were in did not speak well for them. Pushing his arms up at his sides, the blonde got up shakily, his legs making wobbling motions as he slowly stood. Sliding his leg up against the ground a few times to make sure it wouldn't give him any problems, Naruto slowly walked forward into the thick smoke that cover the lower toward the ground even in the open area. It was going to be tough to see it seemed…

Naruto suddenly snapped his head up in realization as he felt his hand up to his head and felt the aviator goggles Issei had given him still in place. He quickly pulled them down over his eyes and noticed that luckily no cracks had formed on them at all, making him silently praise himself for always wearing his thirteenth birthday gift from his friend.

Ever since he was seven Naruto had wanted a pair all his own. He had seen them on some racing anime that had been in reruns at the time and had immediately fallen in love with the idea of having a pair all his own. He thought they looked really cool and that if he had a set he would be, as he put it at the time, 'super prepared for any bad guy that came my way!' Looking back at the time Issei had thought he was crazy and to be honest Naruto had never thought he would get a pair, especially since it was the one gift for any event be it birthday or Christmas that his mother refused to get him. The one time his father had tried his mother had almost forced him to sleep on the couch until he relented.

Finally, when he was thirteen and asked for what he would like for a gift that year, he told his mother something different finally realizing he would never get a pair. It wasn't until Issei had come over later that day with a small bag in hand that Naruto had received his wish. It was a blue set of goggles with dark blue lensing. At the time they had looked extremely familiar to the point he couldn't place them but regardless they made him incredibly happy… until Issei had said that Naruto could now peep on women without them suspecting a thing because they wouldn't be able to see his eyes. Even though he didn't want them for that reason Naruto laughed all the same.

Since then he always had them with him wherever he went, even going as far to wear them at formal functions. The only time he ever took them off was to go to sleep. And why would he take them off? In middle school the teachers, despite following the code, honestly didn't care that he wore them. Hell, sometimes when he couldn't find a good spot he wore them to dim the light when he would take a nap cause why not. Though while he may have used them for those things he always had them with him as an assurance, a just in case if he needed them.

He was happy he had them with him now of all times, especially since it seemed like he was right about needing them in case of danger.

With them pulled over his eyes, Naruto no longer felt his eyes water from the smoke and was able to peer through it rather clearly. The men in the priestly looking garb who had attacked him were scattered all over the place, all of them in various states of disarray. Some were even incredibly gory sites to behold. There were several that had a few of the beams supporting whatever was above them come down and fall on top of them, squishing their bodies to the ground. There were two or three impaled with the rods that were once holding candles. The candles had apparently also fallen on some of the bodies and were now charring their corpses with the flames that lit the robes of their god.

Looking upon the site, he felt his stomach churn at the unfamiliar visage. He had seen such a scene looking like this in a game once. The character walked through a sea of bodies in a room searching for a lost item and when he found it the bodies got up, their lanky and lifeless looking forms moving toward the character who now had to fight his way through. The game did not do such a scene justice and even if it did he had his doubts if these bodies would be getting up anytime soon.

He felt numb and it was not the normal type that he typically felt. No, this was a new sensation that he felt upon staring at the scattered bodies of the room. These men had tried to kill him yet he suddenly found himself with the realization that instead he had become their executioner, his hands stained with their blood. It was a feeling that he didn't quite think he would ever get used to and was more than likely thankful for the fact. These were men who more than likely had friends, loved ones of some kind even if they did not plan on returning to them in this life. They probably had somebody who cared for them.

"_**Does it matter,"**_ a voice in the back of his mind much like his own whispered. _**"These men were trying to kill you. No, they were going to kill you. That man with the sword whose head you blew off, he was going to kill you too. And they hurt our friend, our precious friend Issei. It was only fair that you blew them up before they could hurt you like they did him. Who cares wither or not it was right… it was you or them."**_

In that moment, despite how cruel the thought was, he knew that the thought process was correct. It was either him or them and quite frankly at this moment his life sounded much more preferable to the alternative. Despite how horrible what he had done was he recognized he could throw up later after he had gotten him and Issei out of here. At least then he wouldn't be in an area that smelled of fresh burning corpses, which was probably his least favorite smell of all time now not that it shouldn't have been in the first place either.

Deciding he wasted enough time Naruto scanned over the area that he currently occupied, looking for his friend. He found just what he was looking for next to the body of the one who had done this to them in the first place and the weird gauntlet she had taken from Issei's chest cavity. His friend lie there, still attached to the cross, with his face to the floor.

Naruto slowly made his way over to Issei's position, his eyes never once leaving his friends prone form. That had almost cost him a couple of times as debris from the building toppled down on top around them. He had almost been hit by a falling beam once, its flaming visage hitting the stone floor in front of him with a sharp crack echoing throughout the former underground chamber. He needed to hurry. It was clear that this building was going to be falling on top of itself soon.

Finally reaching Issei, grabbed the cross with all of his might and flipped it over. It might have just been the adrenaline talking but right now he felt so much stronger physically than he ever had before. It was amazing. It was exciting. It was completely new.

The blonde smiled to himself sardonically as he worked on removing the straps tying Issei to the cross. The wish he had made every morning for something different to happen to him, that feeling of excitement at something new or maybe gaining something he had been missing, apparently some higher power had apparently decided to grant him this wish in the most horrifying of ways… after all, he had decided suddenly, the divine must have been dicks like that. It would explain so much.

The goggle covered blonde finally finished with the straps holding down the brown haired boy and quickly pulled him off. Despite having gone through an explosion and subsequent fire, Issei was almost remarkably unscathed with the exception of some tares on his blazer and under shirt that exposed his chest area slightly. He wished his clothes had come out as fine too but his own shirt was ripped all over and his pants were in tatters along the legs. The only good thing he could say is that he had a whole closet full of the same clothes so he at least did not have to worry about immediate repairs.

The blonde moved his and stared at his friend's face, the lifeless looking eyes staring right back at him, no emotion whatsoever. It was in this moment that Naruto had come to the startling revelation that the voice Shukaku had told him earlier.

Issei was dead. Issei was dead and he would not be coming back. The thoughts stood in the forefront of his mind but even as he admitted them to himself he still found that he was unable to accept the fact. There had to be something that he could do? He couldn't just let Issei die like this. There had to be a way to get him back…

And then he turned his gaze to the side, once again taking in the form of the one who did this to them or more specifically what she still held in her hand. The red gauntlet that looked like a dragon's hand. It sat there with her resting her grubby little fingers all over it. Yes, the thing that she has removed from Issei's chest. That had to be the key.

When she took that thing from Issei, he immediately dropped his head and entered his current state more likely than not. Whatever that thing was more likely than not had something to do with his current state of being. Maybe if he found a way to reverse the spell he could put it back in his chest and get Issei back. It had to be the only way. But he couldn't do it here. Not with the building burning and looking like it was going to fall down at any second.

Naruto pulled his friends prone from the cross and crouched down. He wrapped Issei's hands around his neck, his chest facing toward his back and then grabbed his legs, taking them with him as he stood up. He felt himself loose balance a little and leaned forward a little bit to counter. He knew if Issei were there to see him right now he would be bloody cursing at him for holding him like that. He had after all loudly proclaimed to him and the rest of the world that only women were allowed to touch him and that anything else was blasphemous to him.

"_Unfortunately, my friend, it seems that you'll have to just accept that I did it for today and complain about it all you want another day,"_ he thought to himself.

After making sure Issei was completely secure on his back and that he could handle the weight Naruto slowly made his way over to the form of their captor. As he made his way over he could see the other winged beings who had attacked them. They were scattered about in various positions though they did not look too damaged. The short blonde girl called Mittelt situated comfortably in a wall, her body being firmly locked in place due to being lodged inside the wall itself. Her head had fallen forward, her eyes shadowed by her hair. The only male, Dohnaseek, lay on the ground with his hands sprawled outward and his legs stuck under fallen piles of wood. As he got closer to Raynare he noticed Kalawarner right near her on the right, her head bloody and her body covered in bruises. It seems like she honestly took the worst of it.

Finally reaching the prone black haired women, Naruto was almost half tempted to check her pulse, to make sure that she was dead. To make sure that she could never do this again to anyone. Suring up his grip on Issei, he let go of one of his legs and brushed his hand along her neck, trying to find a vain to check for a pulse. Finally finding a place he could check, he pushed his finger against it.

He felt no pulse.

He let out a breath he hadn't realized that he had been holding and for a second found himself contemplating the fact that he had sighed in relief that a person was dead. It would have probably worried him if it weren't for the fact he was sure that she was finally repaid all the bad karma that she must have collected over the years. From the sound of things she had performed similar rituals before, knowing all the right buttons to press to mess with a person's head. She was an expert, probably having done it many times before.

Thinking it over he suddenly didn't feel any remorse at all.

Moving his hand from her neck to her hands he gripped the edge of the smooth red metal of the armored hand, pulling it quickly from her grip. Pulling it up towards him, he examined the item within his grasp. It was definitely a gauntlet, that much anyone could identify looking at it from affair. What people would see up close though was that it was scaled like one would imagine a dragons would be. It certainly fit with the claw looking fingers that made up the armored piece's hand. At the center of palm area was a bright green jewel, light glinting off it almost like it was an emerald in reflective light. The jewel itself on the inside looked murky.

All of the sudden the jeweled center glowed lightly and he almost ended up dropping it from surprise. This thing was inside Issei? This powerful artifact? He could tell it was. His sense were naturally screaming at him that this thing was dangerous. This dangerous thing was inside Issei? How the hell did that happen? Did his friend unknowingly make a pact with the devil or something?

Whatever it was though he knew two things. One thing would be was that this thing was tied to the life of his friend. If he didn't take it with him Issei had no hope at all. The other thing, he noted cynically, that even if he hadn't needed it and left it here than if it fell into the wrong hands then something very bad would happen. Of that much he was sure.

Rewrapping his hand around his friends leg with the gauntlet secured, Naruto looked around the room for a way to escape Naruto looked around the room and saw a stone stair case that seemed to head up into the main building above them.

"_**It will literally be like walking from the frying pan and into the fire,"**_ rang the sadistic sounding voice of Shukaku in his ear with a maniacal sounding laugh.

"_**Ignoring his horrible joking aside he is right,"**_ commented the sensual voice wryly. _**"You will literally be walking form the slightly burning room below into the really burning building. That is not fair odds."**_

Ignoring the fact that the schizophrenic voices were now giving him advice, he sighed to himself. _"I know that but quite frankly it is the only way out of here. It's either sit down here and wait for the building to collapse on top of me or take my chances with the burning building above."_ Naruto cocked his head around the room and looked at how much he had ended up destroying. _"I think I will take my chances with the burning building, especially since I only ended up confirming Raynare was dead."_

Naruto once again made his way across the room, being careful to once again avoid the small fires around room. He heard a small creaking from above him and looked up. He saw another beam covered in orange flame once again fall of the same building and rushed forward toward the door. He wasn't going to make it. There was a fire in front of him and if he went around he would not make it in time.

And then he remembered the move he pulled off before against those priest guys when he jumped over their swords really high into the air. It was almost instinctual when he had done it. He silently hoped he could pull it off again as he adjusted the weight on his back and felt himself transfer his power to his feet. Trusting himself he jumped, reaching high into the air. He could literally feel the flames licking the hells of his shoes and the heat of the falling hunk of wood coming close to crashing down on him.

He just barely managed to land in the stairwell as the church's support beam hit the floor in shower of fiery mayhem. He would have whooped in joy had they not needed to get out of the burning building. That beam that feel down looked like the main support beam that was holding up the roof fully. He needed to get out of there and fast.

Naruto quickly ran up the stone stair case as fast as he could. The run up was agonizing and almost felt as though it were taking forever to reach up there to the point where he almost tripped a couple of times. Finally Naruto made it to a wooden door that happened to be on fire. He was really starting to regret exploding right about now.

"_**Don't just stand there looking at the door like an idiot,"**_ shouted the proud voice from his mind. _**"Kick it down!"**_

"_You realize you're telling me to kick down a door that is on fire right,"_ he asked hesitantly.

"_**Just do it!"**_

"_Alright, alright, jeez. I can't believe I just lost an argument with a hallucination."_ Naruto raised his left leg and kicked the door. It didn't budge. He kicked it again and managed to crack the burning door this time. Taking a deep breath and counting back from three Naruto kicked the door as hard as he could and almost tripped into the burning room.

The entire room was basically on fire. The only place there wasn't a fire burning was in the big gapping whole in the center of the room. Even the alter he first saw coming out of the stairwell was on fire, a bible book with open pages sitting upon it and burning as well. He would have almost thought that it was some sort of anti-religious symbolism that he saw in a movie once if the situation were purposeful.

A bible, an altar, religious symbolism all around the room. At least he finally knew where he was. He was at that church at the edge of town, the one that had been abandoned for many years. The care taker had supposedly died under mysterious circumstances and the place had fallen into disrepair. Eventually, people just stopped coming all together and few people supposedly did go in ended up never coming out creating a lot of ghost stories about the place. The Japanese, being rather superstitious by nature, saw that as a sign not to go near the place for the most part and made sure to remind everyone of the fact when you suggested otherwise. It was rather genius of them to set up shop here not that he thought about it.

He did a quick scan of the room and quickly realized the only way out was that door across the giant hole. He felt his hope die a little inside as he realized the fact. That hole in the ground basically got rid of half of the building's floor. There was literally no way a normal human could jump across. Now that he thought about it though…

"_I suppose this magic power thing means I'm not normal anyway, doesn't it,"_ he thought doubtfully. Well channeling magical power to his feet and using the energy as some sort of lift certainly helped him get over the fire and the sword wielding priests so why not. He decided at this moment he could not afford to play it safe and if he was going to die might as well do it his own way.

After moving in front of church alter and checking the overall distance, he began pumping the magical energy to his legs. He could feel it flowing through his legs, coursing through some coil almost like water going through a tube. He began pouring so much in his legs were literally starting to glow slightly and he could feel the energy begin to bubble. Normally he might have panicked, especially the bubbling felt familiar to like that of when he released the magical explosion but this time that's what he needed. It would not be a full body explosion but one he would release from his feet to use as propulsion he need to get across.

Finally, he began his run and reaching the end released the burst from his feet as he jumped. The results were greatly in his favor. As he lifted off the ground in his jump the expelled energy gave him quite the needed boost to what felt like flying over the chasm itself or at least what he had assumed was flying. He finally came crashing to the ground on the other side and without rest sprinted forward, throwing his shoulder into a bum rush position as he charged the burning door.

He felt the heat spread along what remained of his tattered jacket, screaming as he felt the flames sear his skin lightly while passing through the broken doorway. Even after he cleared the door he still felt the immense heat behind him and kept running all the way until he reached the forest itself. Only then did he allow himself to slow down lightly when he felt that they were safe. He finally strolled slowly into a slow jog in order to keep moving at a reasonable pace.

And then he heard a giant explosion and turned around to see the church finally come toppling down in the distance. He felt himself stop to stare at the sight. The fact that it collapsed the way it did was sure to draw some attention. In that moment he suddenly realized how suspicious it might look for him to be running around with the corpse of his currently dead friend on his back and a medieval looking gauntlet in hand. He would end up looking like one of those occultists he had originally thought that the fallen angels had been.

As he stared at the flames though he saw something that horrified him and caused him to take a step back. Four figures rose out of the blaze and into the sky, the orange flames parting as though they were alive and heeding the command of something that was its better. Two large black wings sat upon their backs, their figures highlighted by flames like some evil creature from his nightmares. He could literally feel their energy rolling off of them. They were alive and that was not good for him at all.

Suddenly, they scattered, with one of them flying over into his direction. He almost froze. Could they sense him? Could they feel his fear? He did not know and did honestly not want to take the chance. He dashed quickly to the side and dove in a thick pair of bushes, ignoring the pain of the needlelike leaves piercing his sides. He set Issei down next to him and waited a few seconds.

Then he felt a great big burst of wind pass over him and he sighed knowing that the fallen that had gone passed had most likely left. The energy signature was faint and still moving away from his position. That was good. He could definitely work with that. The other three signatures also too were moving away rapidly from what he could feel….

"_Wait,"_ he suddenly thought in horror. He quickly began to count the number of signatures he felt on his left hand to make sure he wasn't imagining. One. Two. Three. Four. There were four signatures but… that would mean that Raynare was alive! She couldn't be. He had felt her neck himself and she didn't have a pulse! When you don't have a pulse you're not supposed to get up and walk away from something like it was just a smack to the head.

"_**It was probably a healing spell that did it,"**_offered a kind sounding voice. _**"If they have rituals to remove people's souls and weapons from them then they more likely than not have some form of healing spell."**_

"_That can bring someone back from the dead,"_ the blonde responded critically to the suggestion of the hallucination. _"I don't think it works like that! If they had a spell that could revive the dead then why not revive the holders of these soul weapon things after you take them? Wouldn't that make more sense? That way they wouldn't need to cover up the fact they killed a person and the former holder could just go on thinking that it was a dream! So now that we've ruled out a spell that revives the dead can we please suggest a more plausible theory you messed up phantasms!"_

"_**Ok then what about the fact that you may be CHECKED HER PULSE WRONG YOU DUMBASS,"**_ the formally kind voice shouted at him suddenly entering a whole different mood. It seemed like it must have really not liked being called a stupid phantasm.

Though now that he thought about it clearly the fact did make sense for the most part. He was never really trained to check a pulse. The most he knew about one was from when they studied biology and from a few health classes where they had them take heart rates. He did okay at taking his own and checking his partner's but he was certainly no medical professional. Screwing that up was definitely possible for him especially since he didn't know how different the biology of a fallen angel and a human were.

Realizing this he began sweat internally. The chick who had just killed his friend, and whom was more likely than not looking to kill him now if she hadn't been trying hard enough before, was still freaking among the living. She was still walking around… flying around in this case he guessed but that wasn't the point. She had captured both him and Issei because he supposedly had something like Issei's red gauntlet thing inside him as well. Which meant that she probably still wanted it too.

"_Shit,"_ he cursed to himself and looked at his friend's lifeless body. He felt his eyes water, the stress of it all finally coming down on him now that the rush was gone. "It's always you who gets us into trouble you know that," he commented aloud, his voice cracking and his nose slowly moistening on the inside. "Every single time you get us into trouble. When we were kids it was going on adventures. I almost miss when it was about adventure for you. At least then all that did was removing ourselves from the watchful eyes of our mothers to play "Dragon Hunting" in the forest you know."

He sniffled as he attempted to keep mucus from dripping out. "Then when we were just stupid fucking preteens it suddenly became about girls and you, for some goddamned reason decided it would be a good idea to try and include me on your increasing levels of perversion by peeking on the middle school swim team with you." He laughed lightly despite the tears, recalling the event almost fondly. "It was the just both of us at the time and you tried to get me to join in your fun cause you didn't want me to be lonely. I was so thankful to hear you say that that I joined you anyway even if it went against everything mom told me not to do. Funny thing is that I honestly think I enjoyed it a little… and thinking about it more I think you enjoyed it more than me because it was the first time you were able to do it without getting caught."

The tears were freely falling now, cascading down his face and wetting the dry ground. He clenched his fists and his teeth, almost breaking open the scabbed over cut on his hand. "And then when we got to High School, oh how much trouble you ended saddling me up with." He blew his nose in what remained of his sleeve, not caring how disgusting it was. "You got us in so much trouble and that was from me having to bust your butt out of getting your ass beat all the time. I seriously thought for the longest time that it was impossible to get an entire sex to hate you no matter how bad a pervert you were. You certainly managed to prove me wrong, especially when they started calling you the enemy of all women."

He remembered the day almost fondly. He and Issei had never laughed so hard about the nickname he had been given. Instead of finding it annoying the brown haired boy had almost reveled in it. He said it just meant that "he was getting to them and that once they started thinking about him they would never be able to stop." He didn't have the heart to tell him that was not the intention but he didn't have the heart to pop his friends bubble despite the amount of fridge logic it contained. It was just too funny at the time and the both of them laughed and made jokes about the whole thing for hours.

"And then you just never stopped. For some reason despite the fact that it was morally unethical you didn't seem to actually even give a shit about that. You followed what your heart asked you to and you never gave up on your dream, even going so far as to shout it to the heavens in front of people and defend your dream after people called you crazy for it." Naruto began wiping his eyes, trying to stop the tears and seemingly having enough. "I may not have told you this all the time, hell I might have even called you crazy myself every once and a while, but I really admired your conviction to chase your dream. Your choice to go for it, grab it with both arms, and never let it go; you inspired me to try and do the same as soon as I found a dream of my own!"

Naruto banged his fist against the ground angrily and grabbed the giant red gauntlet, holding it tightly in his hand. "And that's why I refuse to let you die just yet! You can't die now! You still have a dream to achieve! You're supposed to be the harem king remember?" He crawled closer to his friend's body and put the gauntlet on top of his chest, right in the area that Raynare had taken it from. "And that's why you're going to take this damned thing back into your body and wake your stupid ass up!"

He began pushing the thick metal glove against his friend's chest, hoping for it to do something. Nothing happened at all. Not a single thing. No damned spark of green light or anything at all to show it was working. He pushed harder. _"As if that would do something,"_ he thought cynically to himself with his eyes closed, tears leaking onto his friend's clothed chest and seeping into the cotton of the shirt itself. If that didn't work then what would?

And then he remembered his sudden magical abilities. Yes! That had to be the solution! Magic was what pulled the damned red artifact thing from his friend so why not try and use it to put it back? It had to work! His abilities had worked for everything else from combat to using it to enhance his overall physical power so why couldn't there be an application for this! The fallen angel did it so why couldn't he?

He began to build up magical power into his hand, gathering the energy in his palm. Maybe this would work if his thoughts conveyed what he wanted to do. In a few of the stories about magic he had read most of them worked with a combination of will and having a specific thought or feeling to help shape the magic into what you wanted it to do. If he thought about it subconsciously he had been thinking that he needed to escape and be stronger to fight when preforming such tasks. So taking that theory if he applied it to his current predicament, using his feelings of hope and his desire to put back the gauntlet and revive his friend, it might…

**[I would not do that if I were you]** a voice from below his hand called out.

"_What the,"_ he thought as he pulled his hands off to see the only thing there was the gauntlet. What was different about it was that the once murky looking green gem in it was now glowing lightly with a yellow light. That was weird. That thing could have just…

**[You were thinking something rude about me just now weren't you]** the voice said once again, this time with him noticing the gem of the gauntlet glowed slightly brighter with each word before diming.

The gauntlet was talking. The gauntlet was talking. The gauntlet was talking. The gauntlet was…

**[Yes]** the voice once again interjected dryly. **[Please repeat that "The gauntlet is talking" once again. I don't think those fallen angels who were chasing you could hear you all the way out in the city limits. Haven't you either heard of keeping your inner thoughts to yourself?]**

Naruto would have retorted had he not still been in shock over the fact that he had repeated what he had been thinking in his head out loud and due to the fact that the gauntlet was still freaking talking! Seriously? What kind of sick twist of fate was it that the damned object could talk? Then again who thought that fallen angels and magic existed? Technically by going with what he already knew he should not have been shocked about this but still.

**[So do you have a name or are you going to sit there gapping at me and my former container?]**

Naruto decided at this point it was just better to go with the flow and ignore the comment. "Sorry," he apologized looking at its jewel and wiped his eyes once again to dry them. "It's just that this has been a very stressful day."

**[Yes I can tell]** the gauntlet commented morosely, almost as though it were sad. **[I apologize for what happened to your friend. It is always said to see one of my potential partners fall before they are even given the chance to find out about me. It does not happen often but it has before.]**

"But you were inside of him," the blonde shouted at it. "Surely he can still be saved if I get you back into him somehow right?"

**[It seems that you do not understand the situation young man]** the gauntlet said tiredly as though he had gone through the same routine over and over. **[This guy, the one who had the gauntlet placed in him by the Sacred Gear System, is not getting back up. Once I am removed or the user is killed it is over. There is no… how would you humans say it… "get out of jail free card" because it doesn't exist! The only way this kid is getting revived is if you find a devil to bring him back with one of their Evil Pieces and to be fair, without me in this kid he isn't worth much.]**

Naruto grit his teeth in anger. "Shut up you stupid hunk of scrap metal," he shouted. "What would you know about how much Issei is worth! He's my friend! He's worth plenty to me!"

How dare this stupid thing say that Issei wasn't worth anything while sitting on his friend's chest! And the whole Issei "wasn't worth much" without him thing? It was just a gauntlet! Abet it was a cool looking gauntlet but still it was just a gauntlet! What made it worth so special?

**[Be that as it may that does not mean a devil will revive him]** replied the gauntlet, the jewel now glowing furiously as though it were mad. **[If I had to estimate his worth to a devil right now it would be worth one pawn piece and even then, from what I could tell in your limited interaction with him as I was being pulled from his soul, he does not have any special skills that would be worth being reincarnated by a devil.]**

"Shut up," returned Naruto. "I don't care if he doesn't have any special skills! He may be a pervert but he is still my best friend and I'm not going to let him die if I could help it!"

**[I admire your conviction but I have been watching you since you picked me up and believe me kid if I had not interrupted what you were doing you would have destroyed my former host's body completely] **the object admitted.

The blonde froze at the words. _"I… I could have… I could have destroyed Issei's body,"_ he asked himself, his head falling to stare at the ground as tears not of sadness but of desperate frustration began to fall once again. There was no way. The theory he had come up with applied had made sense so far in application. How could he destroy Issei's body then?

As if seeing the boy's expression, the gauntlet continued with its explanation. [I must admit it you have a rather impressive aptitude for magic and have an incredible amount for a beginner,] it complemented. [I have never seen anyone learn to enhance their body with magic right out of the gate and that is a rather impressive feat in of itself. However, you have neither the experience, control, nor the means at this point to control a healing spell of even minor significance. What you just would have done was blow your friend's body to kingdom come, something I think you would rather avoid if you could.]

"Then what am I supposed to do," Naruto shouted at it in desperation. "There has to be something I can do! Please you seem to know a lot so tell me something, anything! I'll do whatever I have to just help me save my friend!"

He heard the gauntlet sigh in what sounded like pity**. [I'm sorry but there is just nothing we can do at this moment]** it said. **[Your friend is gone. I'm sorry but you must accept that.]**

As Naruto took in the words his stomach churned as he his tears never seemed to stop. _"This is it,"_ he asked to himself quietly as he stared down at his fist buried in the dirt. _"Is this really all I could do for him?"_ He cracked a small watery smile. _"Am I really this useless that I cannot save my own friend?"_

"_**I'm sorry Naruto,"**_ the deeply guttural sounding voice apologized to him. It was almost ironic, he noted, that a voice that sounds so cruel is actually being nice. _**"We tried to tell you in the church but you just did not seem to want to listen to us. I'm am truly sorry that it ended up like this."**_

"_Even my hallucinations knew that it was hopeless before I did,"_ he cried internally. If the voices inside his head knew all about this before he did then what did that mean for him? That he had unknowingly accepted that it was useless and that all of this desperate fighting was just some act he had subconsciously put up to protect himself? Was he really the delusional that he needed to fool himself into trying so hard?

**[Hey, snap out of it kid]** the gauntlet shouted, getting his attention. **[Look, from what I see he was important to you and once again I'm sorry but we need to get out of here before…]**

"Well, well, well," commented a voice from above him offhandedly, one that Naruto thoroughly recognized and clenched his dirt coated fists at his suave sounding voice. "It seems like you had not escaped as far as Raynare originally thought. To think you were hiding here and so close to the church as well… I'm almost embarrassed to say that I passed over this spot without sensing you. You really need to get a control on your emotions though because it seems your magic fluctuates as a result of them."

Naruto slowly stood up and turned around, his blue eyes glaring at the floating form of the black haired fallen angel Dohnaseek. The angel, unlike when he had left him in the blazing church, seemed to be uninjured. Even the scorch marks that stained his trench coat and shirt were no longer visible, in fact the ensemble looked like it just got back from a dry cleaners and was as good as new. The various wounds that had also marred his body to were gone and left smooth unblemished skin in their place. It was like he had never been in the burning church in the first place.

As if sensing his thoughts the biblical being just chuckled at his glare. "You are probably wondering how I'm alive, aren't you," he asked in a mirthfully mocking tone, a small sadistic gleam entering his eyes. "Well you see, unlike you humans we fallen are much more resilient when it comes to pain. While I must admit your explosion was unexpected it was most certainly not something we could not handle getting back up from. As for why I'm fully healed and my clothes look just perfect, well… magic."

Naruto's glare intensified. This guy… thing… whatever the hell it was, it was mocking him and he was really not in the mood to deal with it. Especially since this guy right here was one of the people who killed Issei.

The blonde could feel his magic burst forth like a wave as if answering his anger with the overwhelming force he desired. His whole body began to glow and his light blue magical energy swirled around him like a small hurricane. With this power he could defend himself. With this power he could fight the damned creature in front of him. With this power… he could stop this fallen and make sure he never got back up again no matter how many times he healed his wounds.

The well-dressed angel stared at the boy and sneered lightly. "Ah, yes," he said with distain. "And here comes the reason I'm here. Tell me boy, do you know how much power you are releasing right now?" Seeing his opponent's glare was not relenting he decided to answer his own question. "Child, you are currently releasing as much power as a virtue class angel. Virtue class angels have three sets of wings and output four times more magical energy than the average angle. This is nowhere near the output you had before all things considered but it is still an output that should be impossible for most beginning magic users to even achieve. You have more raw magical power than the four of us combined and quite frankly that is most troubling."

Naruto did not even bother to register the information. As much as he would like to say that would immediately allow him to trounce this guy he knew that was not going to happen especially considering the fact his enemy had been an angel alive for who knows how long and has had a lot of time to practice his magical ability. He had more distinct battle advantages over him in every way. He knew that without a doubt he would have to be careful if he wanted to get out alive.

Dohnaseek sighed once again dramatically. "Humph, and here I was hoping you would attack when I told you that and make this easier on me. I should have known that it would not be that easy." He smiled sadistically then. "I guess I do prefer the hard way more though. A lot more blood that way!" He suddenly summoned a blue light spear with twin points protruding at the top. "Please try not to die to quickly ok?"

He suddenly disappeared as though flashing out of existence. Naruto suddenly felt his senses blare and dropped to the ground, rolling to the left as a spear of light and its wielder suddenly appeared stabbing the air where he had stood. He observed the face of his opponent, noting the amount of sheer joy his smile held. The black haired angel the shifted and thrust his spear toward his still form.

Kicking up his feet quickly, he rocketed straight forward, just avoiding a stab at the ground and quickly delivering an uppercut to the face of the fallen angel, sending him staggering backwards slightly. He kept up the assault, delivering a quick instinctive kick to the Dohnaseek's stomach and then preforming a sweep to knock his feet from right under him.

The fallen angel saved himself by flapping his wings lightly to balance himself before rushing forward at a breakneck pace toward the backpedaling form of Naruto. He thrust his spear forward and the blonde dodged to the side, the spear scrapping his side a little. Dohnaseek continued to deliver a series of blows that Naruto barely managed to avoid. Soon enough, even while his counterpart was still stabbing away, Naruto felt like a new plan was need.

"_I can't keep dodging forever,"_ he thought to himself as he narrowly avoided another piercing shot towards his abdomen. _"He'll tucker me out this way."_ After a few more shots Naruto saw an opening in Dohnaseek's side and exploited the hell out of it, delivering a powerful magic enhanced blow to the ribs and knocking Dohnaseek out of his wits. Moving to the side, Naruto continued to jab at the fallen's ribs, delivering blow after crushing blow until he finally heard a solid crack and saw Dohnaseek shudder in pain.

Bringing his fist back he charged his magical energy into his fist, something that had seemingly become instinctual at this point, and thrust forward giving a final punch to the ribs and releasing all the pent up power within.

The results were immediate. Dohnaseek was blown backwards, his feet skidding across the ground as he howled in pain and clutched his side with his free hand, covering the smoking skin that had barred the brunt of Naruto's onslaught. Breathing for a few seconds he stared at his opponent and his previous smile widened. "My, my, and here I thought that you were just going to be some kid who has never fought a day in his life," laughed the angel as madness seeped into his voice. "This is just so exciting! You're certainly putting up a lot better fight than any of the other humans that I've killed before!"

Naruto grunted at his opponent but didn't answer, allowing himself to recover slightly. _"What the hell is this,"_ he thought to himself questioningly. _"How am I doing all of this! I've never fought a day in my life in an actual fight! How am I managing to keep up with this guy?"_

"_**Because a body never forgets something that it already knows what to do,"**_ replied the sensuous voice in his head almost purring. _**"You may not remember now but you have fought opponents like him before."**_

"_What are you talking about,"_ Naruto thought despairingly. _"Stop being so damned cryptic all the time!"_

"Are you done resting yet boy," asked Dohnaseek from across the way, breaking Naruto of his thoughts. He took notice of how happy the angel looked; like a kid on Christmas ready to open all the presents that lay for him under the tree. He was also able to note idly that his opponent no longer appeared to be favoring his side and appeared to be in a state of blissful thought. "You know, you're actually making this fun! It's been so long since I've had a good battle! Ever since we started operating as a unit I have barely been able to fight at all. It's always sneaking around and shit with Raynare! No blowing things up, no needless death, no violence, no carnage! It's been maddening!" His body shook blissfully. "And with Milttelt it is always her and that damned need to fuck everything with two legs that walks. And don't get me started on Kalawarner! She is always just such a frigid bitch she never has any fun at all, won't even spar with me! Says something about me being too violent!"

Despite his current hatred for the group of four fallen at this moment Naruto could not help but sympathize with the blue haired woman if this is what she had to deal with all the time. This guy was a certifiable sociopath to crave the amount of violence he did! If she was the most normal of the group than Naruto could definitely see why Kalawarner would definitely not want to do too many activities with the rest of them. If the rest were anything like Dohnaseek then he could definitely see why she was the way she was.

"Oh boy," called Dohnaseek in a sing-song type of manner. "Stop thinking and just fight me already!" Gathering up wind under his wings, Dohnaseek rushed forward at high speeds and thrust his spear forwards. Naruto, not having enough time to dodge, did the only thing he could do at the moment. He grabbed the spear and gripped it tightly. He suddenly let out a hollow scream as he felt the heat from the bar of light boil the skin of his hand and was just barely hanging on. Dohnaseek laughed again. "Did you really just grab my light spear with your hand," he crackled like he had been told a joke. "You truly are an idiot! You may not be effected as much as a devil is by light but it doesn't need to be in order to kill you because you humans are usually so freaking flimsy!"

Naruto grit his teeth in pain as he continued to grip the light spear and stop it from moving. Suddenly, in Dohnaseek's free hand another blue bar of light appeared. Naruto felt his eyes widen in horror as he thrust it toward his side. Quickly letting go of the light spear he was holding Naruto just barely managed to drop to the ground and felt the blade split one of his hairs, just reminding him how close that was before managing to roll to the right to avoid twin stabs in the ground from both spears. It was from that moment on Naruto knew that he was in deep trouble.

Naruto continued to roll to the right as Dohnaseek continued to stab at the spots where he had been, usually just missing him by an inch. If he stopped at any point it was over and that was not something he could let happen. He suddenly felt a leg kick him upwards and send him into the air, with Dohnaseek delivering another kick to his stomach and sending him flying back into a tree, cracking it under the immense force of the impact.

The blonde felt himself slide down against the tree and he groaned, his back in pain from the sheer impact force. He was slightly surprised nothing had been broken from that. He heard laughing and looked just in time to see the black haired fallen angel send both of his blue spears straight at him at an amazing speed.

"_Shit I can't dodge in this position," _he thought desperately as he drew back his hand and began the process of supercharging it with his magic. He felt noticed his hand glow a brilliant blue out of the corner of his eye before firing a shot off and sending a speeding blue bullet of energy at the two spears. The attacks connected and there was a brilliant explosion, kicking up dust everywhere.

Using the dust as cover Naruto quickly got up and ran toward another set of trees for cover only to be intercepted by a smiling Dohnaseek as he grabbed Naruto mid run and swept him up in the air holding his arm. They both speed through the air and after a few seconds reached a hundred feet in the air, the breeze from above blowing in Naruto's still goggle clad eyes. If it weren't for the fact an angel was holding him by his arm in the middle of the air the sight of the town would have almost looked beautiful.

Naruto struggled in the fallen angels grip and kept silently cursing as his captor looked down at him with a sadistic smile. "Tell me boy, do you like being in the air," he asked in amusement. "I certainly do. It's one of the many things I enjoy about being a fallen angel. In fact I fell from heaven when I decided to experiment a bit in the air on a night much like this." He licked his lips lightly in remembrance. "She was quite the beautiful one that girl. I decided two hundred years ago that I was bored with heaven and decided to go out with a bang. So I did what anyone would have. I flew over a random village, grabbed a girl off the streets mid-flight, and brought her up in the air with me. She was so enamored with my beautiful white wings that she didn't even notice that I had her stripped until she felt my dick at her nether lips. She screamed at first in fright until I gave her virgin self a fucking she would never forget. I think I even started the idea of the mile high club if you get what I mean." His smile widened. "And do you know what I did with her after the white in my wings started to fade into a beautiful midnight black?" He loosened his grip and slowly let Naruto slip from his fingers. "I let her go like so and she. WENT. SPLAT!" He giggled like a madman as Naruto began to fall to the ground.

Naruto saw the ground quickly approaching and tried to grab the closest thing possible, which ended up being a tree branch. Unfortunately that broke under the strain of the fall and Naruto once again fell but at a shorter non-life threating distance. He ended up falling on his back but once again found himself lucky to get out without injury.

"_What is going on,"_ he asked silently as he got up and stared at the sky where Dohnaseek still stay. _"Not that I'm fucking complaining but why am I more durable?"_

"_**Because you are increasing your durability using magic unknowingly,"**_replied the kind voice of his mind. _**"You are channeling it throughout your body to enhance your speed, strength, and overall durability. It's why you have been able to keep up with Dohnaseek for so long."**_

Naruto could only nod at how much the voices seemed to know and as he fully stood began to finally think that the voices in his head were not exactly an acute case of Schizophrenia like his doctors had suggested. _"Once this is all over we will be having words you hear me you damned voices,"_ he muttered angrily as his opponent lower himself down a few feet to get a better vantage point.

Dohnaseek grinned down at him. "My your still alive?" His tone sounded exasperated but in reality there was a great amount of excitement behind it. "You just don't die easy like the rest of your pitiful kind do you?"

"Well I've been told that I'm rather hard to get rid of," sneered Naruto in contempt as he tried to think of a way out of this.

Dohnaseek laughed at his sneer. "You still have so much fire in you even after all I've put you through! You're a strong human with the heart of a warrior! I can just see it now! The glorious battle we will have if we continue!"

"Hold it," said the blonde, stalling a bit as he tried to concoct a plan. "I have a question. Did you really do that to that girl, the one you were talking about just before you dropped me?"

His opponent grinned sadistically. "Of course! A warrior does not lie to another warrior! We share our hearts and our memories on the battlefield as we fight to the death as through battle is the only way you can ever truly know a person! It's part of the thrill, the clash of wills, of thoughts, of anger and rage, of hatred and all other emotions. This is how I know that I am alive and it is a wonderful feeling!"

The blonde was horrified. To think that this man thought this way… he was a monster! He talked happily and fondly about how he raped a women and then killed her! What they hell was wrong with this guy!

Dohnaseek only continued to look at him. "Well look at you," he said admiringly. "You must think I'm a beast, a monster to do the things I do don't you!" A series of many different magic circles appeared behind him as dozens of light spears appeared from the poised to strike the position Naruto stood. "Well if I'm the monster than you're the hero that has come to slay me right," he asked laughing in delight as he spread his arms wide. "Come then little hero! Come and slay me if you can but just remember if you fail I get to kill all you love and cherish just like that Issei kid!"

Naruto grit his teeth at the remark about his friend and began running for cover as the light spears began to rain down on him. He jumped over a light spear that crashed near his side and slide to the right to avoid one that attacked his side head on. Finally he reached the trees for cover and slide behind a wide on as he felt the earth shake from the impact of the projectiles. Something had to be done, especially if Dohnaseek's earlier comments and current attack were anything. Had he been so much of a battle maniac that he flew off the handle as soon as he got one? If he didn't end this quickly the situation was bound to get worse.

**[Hey boy]** shouted a voice from the side, causing him to turn to the side to see the gauntlet still sitting on his friends prone form slightly hidden by the bush it still resided in. The gem at the center was glowing brightly. **[You seem to be having some trouble there with that fallen.]**

"Understatement of the century," grunted the blonde as another explosion rocked the area.

If the sentient gauntlet could tell he was being sarcastic it choose to ignore it. **[Tell me, what would you do if you had power?]**

"Is now really the time to ask you stupid oversized glove," Naruto replied in turn, trying to think of a solution to get out of this.

**[It's a simple question that requires a simple one sentence answer]** it replied in turn, the jewel glowing even brighter.

Naruto thought about it for a moment. What would he do with power? If he were honest he had never really thought about it till now. He had never seen power as a way to achieve what he wanted because he did not even know what he wanted. No, that wasn't true. He knew what he wanted. He wanted to protect his friend even if he was just a lifeless corpse right now. He wanted to not have to see any friends he may ever again make die like he did Issei. He wanted to be able to protect the parents who had loved him and raised him, whom did their best to help him and were always there at home to great him with a smile when he needed it. He…

"I would… I would use it to protect all of those who are precious to me. I would use it to protect people from the monsters that lurk in the dark that they will hopefully never see! That is what I would do with power! Are you happy you stupid glove!"

The gauntlet's jewel dimed, no longer full of the light that had been their previously. Was that all it wanted, to ask a stupid question in this situation…

Suddenly it regained its previous glow, only brighter as the gauntlet itself got covered in light. **[Your dream is rather admirable]** it said, its tone pleasant. **[Tell me boy, what's say you become my new partner?]**

"What the hell do you mean partner," he asked as another round of explosions littered the field and shook the earth. "What the heck could you do?"

**[Well why don't you put me on and find out]** asked the gauntlet almost slyly. **[I'm sure you'll be surprised at what I can do.]**

Naruto took a sharp intake of breath. This gauntlet was telling him to put it on? What the hell could it do? It just looked like a piece of armor that was no longer a part of a set. Was it really as strong as it claimed?

And then Naruto remembered his previous plan for it. Find some way to hope to get it back inside his friend's body and hopefully that would bring him back. If he put that thing on he got the feeling he would never be taking it off. Could he really risk doing that?

Naruto shook his head. "No way," he shouted back at it. "There might still be a chance to use you to revive Issei! If I put you on than any chance I had goes out the window and I won't allow that to happen!"

The gauntlet was almost rumbling in defiance now as the gem was positively radiant. **[Listen to me boy there is no chance of that happening so give up on it! Don't you remember what your friend said before he died? He told you to live didn't he?]**

Naruto gasped in shock what Issei said washed over him like a wave…

"_Naruto," he gasped. "Thank you for everything." His face finally turned corpse pale and his once vibrant eyes diminished in color. "Now get out of here and live… live for both of us!" He continued gasping. "Live for both of us… brother!"_

Naruto felt his resolve crack as tear once again gathered in his eyes at the memory. _"Damn it,"_ he cursed silently. _"Damn it all! I'm sorry Issei, I really am!"_

**[He told you to live didn't he]** continued the gauntlet passionately almost. **[No, he didn't just tell you to live he told you to live for both of you! You'll die here if you don't accept my help and then you'll have failed him all over again! Is that what you want?]**

Naruto clenched his fists as he clenched his eyes shut. Issei had wanted him to live. Issei wanted him to live because if he lived he could live and fight for both of them! If he died here he would fail at that mission and have to face his friend in the afterlife with doubts in his mind and in his heart. There was still so much neither he nor Issei had experienced and if he died he would never be able to do it for both of them. If he died then it was all over and he couldn't let that happen! He would do it for his friend. No. He would do it for his brother.

"I'll take the deal," he said, his voice low.

**[What was that]** asked the gauntlet. **[I'm afraid couldn't hear you over the explosions in the background that are drowning out your weak resolve!]**

"Is said I accept you fucking hunk of scrap metal," shouted Naruto loudly as he got up from behind his cover and ran towards his friend's body. Along the way he dodged several light spears aimed directly at his head and slide into the safety of the brush hiding his target. Ignoring the pain from the quick slide he crawled over to his friend's body and before looking at the gauntlet stared at Issei's expressionless eyes.

For what felt like eternity he stared, watching and waiting as if his friend were about to bounce back at any moment. It never happened. "I'm sorry Issei," he said sadly once again to the body. "It looks like you and I aren't going to see each other for a while, aren't we? Don't worry though. I'll take that whole living thing under advisement you know. I guess I figured out what you meant when you said 'live for us both' you know.

"So here's what I'm going to do. I'll definitely stop thinking with my head so much and go with what my heart says. It might be a bit tough after this but I'll try." This time the tears did not fall as he continued with resolve. "I'll also try trusting people more. You were right in saying I was to paranoid so you know what I'll trust people a lot more and make more friends, genuine people who you would have liked if you met them. I'll make a lot of them, I'll tell them stories of all the fun we had as kids, and I'll even bring them to see you every so often so you can formally introduce yourself… I'll make sure to bring a few pretty girls as well because I know you like them.

"And finally I know you want me to have a harem but I don't know if I'll be able to. After all I have no luck with women as you constantly reminded me, remember. So I don't know if I'll be able to do it but I guess I can maybe try… I don't know but who knows."

He inched his hand toward Issei's face and gave a small smile towards his dead eyes. "So don't worry about me, okay. When we next see each other I'll have plenty of stories to tell you… maybe I'll even tell you about some of the breasts I may or may not grope in your honor." He slide his fingers on his friend's eye lids and began to pull them down. "So remember… Issei… this isn't a goodbye," he said, though it sounded like he was telling it more to himself than anyone else. "A goodbye implies that we'll never see each other again. No. We will see each other again. This is just more of a see you later." He finally shut his friend's eyes and gave a full smile. "So I'll see you later, okay Issei?"

Getting a good look at his friends face one last time and knowing that there was no going back after this Naruto killed the hesitation he felt. He could not afford to hesitate or he would die and the dreams of both Issei and his new dream would pass with him. He couldn't let that happen. He moved his stare from his friend's face to stare down at the gauntlet that sat on his dead friend's chest. Almost hesitantly he picked it up, taking it in his hands as though it were something fragile of great value. "Hey, gauntlet thing," he asked looking into the jewel. "You got a name?"

**[This gear is called the Boosted Gear if that's what you're asking]** said the voice from inside the gauntlet.

Naruto shook his head. "That's not what I mean you numb skull! I mean what's your name, the name of you, the voice?"

**[Me]** he asked, puzzled by the question. **[No wielder has ever asked me right off the bat before.]**

"Well than I guess that makes me the first then doesn't it," the whiskered teen commented. "Now come on I'm not going to work with some nameless character you know? That's just cliché."

**[Humph]** it grumbled. **[I am the great Welsh Dragon and the Red Dragon Emperor! My name is Ddraig and you better remember it you stupid brat!]**

"And my name is Tachibana Naruto, so you better remember that too okay," he said as he slide the gauntlet on his arm and it began to glow, a gold looking emblem with dragons wings appearing near the gem. He felt his arm tingle lightly as he felt the gauntlet begin attaching itself to his arm. He also felt it tug at his magic and something he could not quite place. Finally a green glow surrounded his entire body and he felt himself suddenly become stronger.

"_This power is amazing,"_ he thought lightly to himself as the green glow around him became brighter. Finally it dissipated and the gem at the center glowed.

**[New Host Accepted]** shouted Ddraig from within the gear. He felt it adjusting itself to his arm. Suddenly, he felt the gear on his arm rumble. **[Hey partner, what is this, huh?]**

"What is what Ddraig," Naruto asked as he moved his gauntlet covered arm slightly, testing it out and finding it manageable. It seemed like **[Boosted Gear]** was light enough to where it didn't affect the weight on his hand.

**[I'm asking you why there are a bunch of other souls connected to yours already partner!]**

"What the hell do you mean," Naruto asked in confusion. Souls connected to his? What was he talking about? Last he checked people were only meant to have one soul.

"_**That would be us he is referring to,"**_ chimed in the cruel sounding voice. _**"It's nice to meet you Welsh Dragon."**_

**[Humph] **the dragon grumbled. **[We will be having words over this you realize that right fox face?]**

"_**I certainly am looking forward to it jalapeno breath,"**_replied the cruel voice in defiance.

"_Great now the voices in my head and the dragon in the gauntlet are both going back and forth," _Naruto sighed internally. _"What else could go wrong?"_

"Oh boy," sang a voice from over his head and as he looked up noticed Dohnaseek staring down at him with many light spears prepped to strike him from above. "It seems that you went all cowardly on me boy and ran away." His eyes narrowed and his sadistic smile turned into a sneer. "I don't like it when people become cowards' boy. Do you know what I do to them?" The light spears than began to rain down from above him. "I stab them over and over till they can't get up anymore!"

Naruto quickly grabbed Issei's body and hightailed it off to the side, feeling slightly faster and more agile on his feet then before. He looked at the red gauntlet on his arm. "Hey, I thought you said you could do something! Help me out here why don't you!"

Instead of giving a formal reply a received a cry of **[Boost]** as a green glow surrounded him and he suddenly was running at a quicker speed than before, easily dodging all of the spears being thrown at him by Dohnaseek and getting behind another pair of trees, setting down his friend's body in a nice spot. He quickly looked at the gauntlet on his arm and stared at the gem. "Is that you're power Ddraig," he asked. "I get a boost in speed? That's really useful actually." He could really use that right about now.

**[That's not all it does partner]** the dragon commented. **[Go ahead, feel your magic, you'll be in for quite a shock.]**

Naruto did as he was told and suddenly felt an overwhelming amount of magic be released from his body, all of it being released in large quantities and not feeling like it was going to disappear any time soon. To feel all that power just flowing out, it felt so amazing.

**[You see partner my ability is to double my hosts power every ten seconds, meaning both physical ability and magical ability]** the dragon stated proudly.

Naruto stood their shocked. This was the power Issei had had sealed inside of him? "That's amazing," Naruto shouted, finally thinking for the first time during the entire battle he had a chance to gain the upper hand.

The dragon of the gauntlet snorted at the praise. [**Of course it is partner]** he boasted lightly. **[I'm just that awesome. But remember kid a person can only boost their power until they reach their physical limit. Right now, from what I can tell, you can only boost two more times before you hit your physical limit so be careful.]**

"Right Ddraig," Naruto said as he took off in a sprint running out into the field and began to feel his opponent approaching from the side. Naruto dodged to the left just in time as Dohnaseek came plowing through with another spear. Acting quickly Naruto grabbed the angel's feet and spun him around before letting him go to crash into the nearest tree. He then rushed to his opponent's side and gave him a swift upper cut with his right gauntlet covered arm, sending him up into the air.

Dohnaseek recovered in the air and quickly began raining down light spears at Naruto causing him to run behind trees for cover as the absorbed the hits from the spears and began to come tumbling down. Naruto used that to his advantage as he jumped and ran up one of the trees that was coming down and used it as an elevation point to jump from. Soaring toward his opponent Naruto clocked him in the face, sending his head up while wrapping his legs tightly around his opponent's chest. Apparently Dohnaseek could not hold them both up for long as he began to fall to the earth below.

Crashing into the ground back first Dohnaseek groaned in pain but was muffled as Naruto sat on his chest and delivered punch after punch to his face, leaving welts all over. Naruto charged up his magic in his gauntleted hand but before he could release it was knocked away by the flapping wings of Dohnaseek, who quickly rose up into the sky. Not wanting to miss an opportunity though to end it Naruto released the pent up energy ball into a bullet like shot.

Dohnaseek moved out of the blasts way as the shot continued till the energy dissipated. The fallen let out a laugh from his now welt covered face. "I take back the comment about you being a coward boy," he shouted blissfully as though he had no problems at all. "You are truly a fun opponent and when this is over I will regale the tale of this battle to all of my future adversaries."

"And what makes you think you have a future jerkass," shouted Naruto back as he prepared another charged shot of magic in his palm. He was not going to let this asshole win, not after all the shit he's been through just to make it till now. He would not lose here!

"This is what says I'll win," Dohnaseek fired back as he sent another set of dozens of light spears toward him, coming at him at incredible speeds.

"Shit," Naruto shouted as he went back to dodging. "Ddraig I need another boost here!"

**[Boost]** once again resounded the dragon, funneling more of his power to Naruto as the blonde became a blur on the battle field, dodging spears left and right as the came at him. Finally being bold Naruto took his gauntlet covered hand and pulled a stray light spear out of the air. Unlike with his bare hands it did not burn him and he smirked at his advantage. He quickly fired the spear back at Dohnaseek and watched him just barely manage to dodge it in time.

Glaring at him Dohnaseek fired another round of shots at him only for him to begin picking off spears from the group and firing them back at him. He had to dodge several times as a result and this allowed Naruto just a little more time to think of a plan.

"_I could try and out last him,"_ thought the blonde. _"He said I had more magical power than he originally and after boosting two times after I'm sure to have plenty more. If I can just holdout a little longer…"_

"_**I doubt that that is going to work,"**_ commented the cruel voice tactfully. _**"He will not be that stupid. He might be a battle maniac but he is probably a smart battle manic. He will smell such a plan from a mile away."**_

**[Then what do you suggest you giant fleabag]** commented Ddraig. **[This guy has air superiority over partner here. We can't use the tree jumping tactic again either because he will see it coming. Unless partner activates my Balance Breaker, which isn't even possible for him at the moment, there is no way for us to get close to him.]**

"_**Then let me help you out,"**_shouted the maniac voice of the one they called Shukaku. _**"I got a trick that will give us just what we need to beat this asshat!"**_

**[And what can you possibly do]** asked Ddraig flippantly.

"_**What was the thing you told Naruto you over grown lizard,"**_ snipped back Shukaku angrily. _**"I believe you said: 'why don't you put me on and find out.' Well why doesn't Naruto just channel my power and see for himself?"**_

"_**Lizard, as much as I hate to say it the little fool is right,"**_ commented the voice of the fox as Ddraig had said it was. _**"If anyone's power is good for this situation it is Shukaku's power. Trust me."**_

"_**So, what do ya say kid,"**_ asked Shukaku casually, trying but failing to put on a cool front. _**"Wanna give it a shot?"**_

Naruto thought about it for a moment. Everything in his life just had to change in one day. His friend died, he learned he had access to magic, he survived a burning building, is fighting a fallen angel, got saddled with a talking gauntlet that apparently boosts his abilities and contains a dragon, and now the voices in his head, which are apparently souls connected to his own according to Ddraig, want to help him out. If anyone had told him that this was going to happen to him he probably would have laughed in their faces. Unfortunately he did not have the luxury because even with this new power he had he would not be able to survive to use it if he did nothing.

It left so many thoughts jumbling in his mind, so many questions that need to be answered, and so many problems that were probably to come. But today alone he had made a lot of gambles as it was. So what's the worst a real crazy one can do.

"…_What do I need to do to use your power,"_ he asked blankly, thinking up a backup plan just in case this didn't work.

"_**What, we're really going to do this,"**_ shouted Shukaku in surprise before he began jabbering in excitement. _**"Yahoo! Alright the only thing you need to do is feel inside yourself for me. We need to form a direct connection between your soul and mine so you can use my abilities."**_

**[Are you sure this is a good idea, partner]** asked the dragon of the gauntlet. **[There could be another way for us to win.]**

"_We've run out of options,"_ Naruto commented as he dodged another set of light spears, one of the grazing his cheek_. "Besides you said if I boosted two more times than my stamina would go cu put. I have one more boost left before that happens and we can't take the chance of me losing energy and being at this guy's mercy!"_ Naruto looked up toward Dohnaseek and grimaced. _"He also must have good control because this bastard is not slowing down so I need to do something even if I am betting on an unknown. I've done it a lot today so why not once more?"_

**[Interesting outlook]** the dragon replied. **[Alright then. I'll back you up on this one partner. I just hope it works.]**

"Me too," replied the whiskered blonde as he came to a stop. The light spears had stopped as Dohnaseek stared at his still form, almost analyzing him. The angel had a look of disappointment in his eyes and looked at him almost as if he had become bored with a toy. It was a rather scary feeling and he would have liked to avoid it if he could have.

"So are you giving up," asked the black haired angel, adjusting his fedora in annoyance. "You were just making this so much fun and now you're just standing there? What happened to the sake of sport that you were running around? It was so much fun to chase you and try and pin you down. You were like an animal. You were the prey and I was the hunter. That's how those human nature documentaries put it when describing why the stronger animal ate the weaker one, am I right."

Naruto didn't comment as his eyes were closed tightly. To the fallen it might have looked like his target was resigning himself to his fate but the reality it was different. The young human was trying to feel deep into himself. He was trying to feel for the connection that the voice had described to him. He took a breath and steadied himself.

With his eyes closed he felt as if time had slowed and come to a halt. He could feel the steady beat of his nervous heart and hear his breathing slow. But to him these were just a part of the surface, the things that helped hide what he was searching for. So concentrated and dug deeper inside, past the flesh and bone. Then the energy surge hit him, over flowing through him stronger than before.

He felt the energy flowing throughout his body. This, he guessed, was what his magic must have felt like at its truest form. It was strong but fluid. It could be molded but would be unyielding. It was like a storm… like a maelstrom. But he knew how to access this and it was not what he sought. So he had to dig deeper inside himself, even deeper to a point he could not fathom. He dug past the storm of magic and went further.

He finally reached far enough in where he felt 10 different… wills could he call them? They were shapeless and yet he felt a faint connection to all of them. The one that felt most familiar felt powerful but as though it was already in use. If he attempted to follow the flow he could hear almost a faint but prevailing bellow. He could guess that this power was more likely than not hiss connection created with Ddraig. He moved past it and felt around the other ones. One however stood out among the others at the moment.

This will was trying to connect to his. Instead of ignoring it he know that this was the connection he needed to grab, that he needed to pull. He felt it attach to him and then it was then he realized its nature. This will was filled with madness and instead of pushing it away, he embraced it. He could almost feel the excitement rolling off the bond and in that moment, for reasons he himself could not even understand, he shared in its revelry.

Suddenly he was ejected from the seemingly hallowed ground and returned to consciousness, his trip not for nothing. His magic now flowed from every pore in his body but if felt different then it had previously. There was a distinct undertone to it that he could not place but it felt a little like his initial contact bond with Shukaku.

"_**Of course it does,"**_rang Shukaku's madding voice throughout Naruto's cranium as though someone was talking in his ear._**"It signifies you using my abilities."**_

Naruto looked at his left hand and his gauntlet covered right as wisps of light brown magic swirled around his body in a synchronized motion. Instead of the normal magic that flowed through before, it felt as though it flowed more easily than before. It also happened to feel less human as well. _"My magic feels different."_

"_**That's because my soul is connected to yours and the soul effects the strength of magical ability…"**_the being commented almost questioningly.

If they were in any situation other than the current one the blonde might have face faulted. _"Why do you sound as though you're not too sure about that? Are you telling me you really don't know?"_

There was a pause in the conversation and for a second Naruto could almost feel an onset sense of nervousness through their bond. _**"… I'm going to have to get back to you on that at a later date,"**_it commented awkwardly.

"_We are so having a talk about this later,"_ Naruto hurriedly thought as he jumped away from the spot he was standing, watching as a spear of light ignited as it crashed into the spot. He landed slightly crouched as he looked back towards the being trying to skew him. The fedora wearing man was grinning up a storm to the point where the blonde wondered if he had taken lessons from a villain from a cheese action flick. It seemed he liked that the chase was not as over as he had originally thought.

Dohnaseek grinned at his prey in what seemed like delight. "So it seems I was wrong," he shouted from above Naruto, who was staring back at him defiantly with the best glare he could muster. "You weren't giving up. You were just harnessing your magical power further. You've even managed to change the color and nature of your magical energy. Even your eyes have changed color!"

"_Changed color,"_ the whiskered teen thought to himself. _"What does he mean by that?"_

"_**Oh, I forgot to tell you that your eye color would change when you used one of our powers,"**_remarked Shukaku. _**"When you connect with us to use our abilities then your eyes change to what our eyes look like to reflect our connection."**_

"_**Of course the daft moron would forget to tell him that little tidbit,"**_sniped the guttural voice.

"_**Oh fuck you fox,"**_the maddened voice of Shukaku swiftly shot back. _**"I just didn't get around to telling him until now. Cut me some slack!"**_

**[Before you two get into one of those petty squabbles you seem so fond of we need to make sure partner gets out of this alive first]** commented the dragon from his position on Naruto's arm. **[Tanuki this power of yours is rather impressive though. You're essentially using yourself as a filter to change the nature of his magic to make its abilities closer to certain elements and allow him enough leeway to bypass the way normal human magic is done. I haven't seen anything like it in a long while.]**

"_**Careful scales or you'll inflate his ego,"**_the sensuous voice interjected before Shukaku probably could. _**"Now focus child or else this fight will be lost."**_

"_**Yeah, yeah we hear you,"**_ cried Shukaku's exasperated sounding voice. _**"Listen kid I'll help you out so with preforming the magic today so for now just go with the flow, got it?"**_

The blonde could only nod his head in response and did the first thing he thought would work. Taking his left hand and forming a fist, he attempted the same attack he had made back in the church. He almost visualized the bullet in his mind. He reared his fist back and, strangely enough a brown circle appeared in front of him with archaic looking symbols swirling around it. He did the only thing he thought sensible: he punched it.

As his fist hit the circle he felt a slight dip in his energy and an unexpected result happened. A giant bullet of condensed air flew out of the circle speeding toward his adversary, who despite looking slightly flabbergasted by the attack, just managed to dodge to the side. Deciding now that he had a clue about how this magic worked the blonde reared his right gauntlet covered hand and reared it back this time. The circle appeared again and, as if testing his theory again, threw his fist forward and created another condensed bullet of wind that flew toward the still recovering fallen angel.

As Dohnaseek dodged again Naruto allowed himself a small grin of triumph, the first he had felt that night, as he got into a rhythm of creating wind bullets and firing them towards his antagonist in quick succession. Due the two times he had boosted his speed felt like it had been quadrupled as he threw his arms forward like a continuously firing machine gun. As the black winged being flew around the blonde tracked him with his shots, though none of them hit.

Even after he put on the [Boosted Gear] he was still on the run for most of the fight and had only managed one group of successively placed hits. He had never had a bit of control once during the fight. Now though, now he felt like his chances of survival had just gone up and he was just fine with that.

Dohnaseek, almost detecting his opponent feeling like he had an upper hand, decided to remind the blonde who was the predator in this game. Shifting out of the way of another bullet of air, the black haired angel stilled and materialized a row of blue spears behind him and fired them towards his human prey in delight. "Do you know who I am human," he asked loudly as his rain of spears flew toward the spiky haired teen, who had now taken to using his air bullets to try and blow them up before they got to him. "I am the most magically talented of our group. Do you simply believe that someone who has just come into their ability can outfight me? You think you can out fight one of the fallen who survived the Great War while you were but a twinkle in the eye of your ancestor? Do not make me laugh!"

Unable to destroy all the spears before the got to him, Naruto jumped back as three light spears landed where he once stood and exploded, blowing him back a little. In order to get control the blonde held out his hands and gripped the ground with them, pulling himself down and skidding to a halt. He looked up only to see another spear flying at his face, to which he responded by raising his left hand and forming a circle again and forcing another air bullet from it. The compressed gale crashed into the spear and blew it up in a shower of light.

The whiskered teen quickly looked up at his floating adversary and snarled. "You think I give a shit about how you survived through some war or that you're good with your magic? I couldn't give a shit. You bastards killed Issei!"

"Was he really that important to you," inquired the being from above almost curiously. "I heard that he was a major pervert. One of society's worst scum with no redeeming qualities at all or at least that's what Raynare said. She really did enjoy messing with that kid's heart let me tell you."

Naruto felt his anger almost explode and over his bond he felt Shukaku in some sort of rage too. _**"Okay kid…"**_the maddened voice of other partner began. _**"You see normally we would tell you to be calm and shit but even this guy is pissing me off so screw it. Stomp your foot on the ground and help visualize a sandy wasteland! Let's show fuck this guy up Naruto!"**_

"You don't need to tell me twice," the blonde shouted aloud in rage as he pushed himself into the air with his unraised hand and channeled a large amount of magic towards his feet. As he landed another brown archaic circle appeared on the ground to meet his landing. The power he had channeled into his feet left and entered the circle. The effects were immediate as the ring expanded outward, leaving the ground to collapse into small particles of sand as it continued. It spread quickly all over the clearing where their battle was taking place, previously collapsed trees now sinking into the new giant pit of sand with relative ease.

Dohnaseek just threw the blonde that was looking at him in anger a mocking smile. "While it's impressive you've turned the ground into a virtual sand trap you seem to forget that I am up here and you are down there," he stated viciously. "How will making a sand box help you?" He forged an unusually large spear of light in his hand and threw it toward him with great speed.

Naruto, instead of moving however, just stood there and began to raise his gauntleted right hand with palm facing up and open, in a natural motion. He felt Shukaku's calmness over their bond and knew that he was doing the right thing. As the spear drew in closer particles of sand from the pit began to flow into the air and gather at a rapid rate. It eventually formed into a giant sand claw with black tips and black looking veins running down the arm.

The arm's clawed hand opened and acted like a shield, protecting Naruto from the impact of the spear as a huge explosion went off in its grasp. Smoke plumed in the air from the blast and bits of sand flew back into the pit.

Dohnaseek grinned at the defense. "Seems that this game isn't over just yet." The blonde did not fire of a retort and instead thrust his arm forward.

Suddenly the giant clawed arm shot out of the smoke, sand from the pit being absorbed into it as it rose toward the fallen with surprising speed. The grin fell from his face and he did a quick aerial roll to the side as the huge claw encroached on his personal airspace and swept past him. The small sense of safety he thought he had however disappeared when the giant claw swept to the side and formed a fist that rammed right into his stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs and forcing him to fall from the sky.

The blonde however did not let up in his assault and swept his outstretched hand to the side, deforming the giant sand claw into clumps that fell through a magic circle that appeared below it. The sand bits were compressed and fired off like a rain of bullets, smacking into the falling winged being with enough force to crack bones. Throughout the assault Dohnaseek roared in pain until he slammed into the ground and the only sound was the constant sound of bullets of sand hitting the ground in rapid succession like a canon bombardment.

It didn't stop until all the sand that had been used to make the claw had been used up and what felt like forever to the blonde who watched ended up being a minute at most. As the barrage stopped an eerie silence permeated the air. All was quiet except for the heavy wheezing he could make out toward the edge of the pit where Dohnaseek lay. It was surreal in a way; the way the battle ended was strange to him. It seems like with the combined abilities of both Ddraig and Shukaku he managed to finally overwhelm his opponent.

"_**Humph,"**_ snorted Shukaku in what the teen could assume was amusement. _**"Of course he was overwhelmed by the might of Shukaku and his partner in crime! There was never any doubt that he would fall to our combined abilities!"**_

**[…are you forgetting that I helped to you drunk sounding fool]** asked Ddraig from his place on Naruto's arm, contempt lacing his voice. **[I'm the one who gave him the boost in magic reserves that even allowed him to pull all of that off! If anything partner and I could have won without you're over grown sand castles!]**

"_**Ohohohoh,"**_ roared Shukaku as he threw what Naruto thought was a fit. _**"You want to go you over grown lizard. Not only do I pride myself on ultimate defense but I also pride myself on my skills with sand. You think you can make fun of that and get away with it? I'll turn you into a fucking wallet and use your mouth as the coin purse portion. I'll eviscerate you until your freaking unrecognizable!"**_

"_**Oh for the love of…"**_ the blonde heard one voice murmur in his head, the irritation clear in the beings voice.

"_**Just shut up and stop your drunken rambling you moron,"**_ shouted the cruel voice in anger.

"This is going to be a thing, isn't it," Naruto asked no one in particular as he heard the banter continue back and forth like he had just not fought a life and death battle. It was almost like they forgot about that… or was it because he was doing all the heavy lifting and they just didn't care? He decided to intervene before the fight could get any worse. "Listen Shukaku, ignore them. You did great. Ddraig no one forgot about you and your right, without you boosting my reserves I probably would have killed over from the magic concentration I felt myself use. Thank you. Can everyone not fight for a few minutes while we focus on getting Dohnaseek over here and getting answers out of the stupid prick?"

Seeing as how all the voices in his head stopped squabbling he assumed they were all done for the moment. Instead the blonde focused on getting his opponent over toward him and trapped in some way so he could not try anything. He felt around and still felt his magic saturate the sand. Before he had Shukaku help him completely because it was a life or death situation but now that he was out of it he felt it was something he needed to try on his own. This was something he needed to do himself.

He held out both hands and focused, looking for the same feeling he had when Shukaku was working in complete conjunction with him. Shukaku and him both pictured what they wanted to happen and then put it into practice with the idea being the guiding force. This supposedly wasn't how normal human magic worked but when combined with the talents of the being it worked this way for him. If what Ddraig described was anything it bypassed the normal laws of human magic.

So he pictured what he wanted. He imagined Dohnaseek wrapped in a cocoon of magic saturated sand and enclosed both of his hands. He could feel the sand move to his commands; he felt it follow his orders as though it were a being all its own. It slowly wrapped around the fallen angels body tightly, encasing it completely in sand. He could sense the black haired man struggle a bit in the encasing but make no other major movements.

He pulled both hands back and willed it toward him. The whiskered teen watched the sand shift as a giant mass of it was pulled toward him, his opponents head sticking out of the giant clump in resigned silence.

"_**Hey you're already a natural,"**_ interjected Shukaku with glee, almost interrupting Naruto's concentration. _**"You managed to figure it out slightly already. I'm so proud of you Naruto."**_

Naruto didn't answer though, instead choosing to stare at the man who had just arrived in front of him. He stared at the man that tried to kill him all night and had actually succeeded with his friend. However he felt some sick satisfaction when looking at his opponent and his state. Dohnaseek honestly looked worse for the ware, bruising all over his face and his hair in tatters. With his one non swollen eye he glared at Naruto in contempt while Naruto stared right back at him, his face expressionless.

Finally Dohnaseek spoke first. "Well it seems that you won our little game," remarked the fallen angel, a small smile making its way onto his features. "If it weren't for the fact I was about to die I might have congratulated you, but you know realizing your about to die kind of makes you a sore loser you know?"

"Where is Raynare, Dohnaseek," asked Naruto while trying to stay calm. He needed to stay calm. He needed to end this and make sure that Raynare was not coming back for him, that she would not come back for Dohnaseek or that this was not some form of bigger scheme. He needed to make sure that what remained of his loved ones were safe.

Dohnaseek snorted in contempt. "You don't have to worry about her coming back you know," he commented offhand. "At least you don't have to worry about her coming back with Girgori permission at least."'

"Why, I thought you guys worked for with this Girgori," Naruto probed lightly. "Would she not be allowed to come back because you guys failed in your mission to kill both Issei and I?"

Dohnaseek just laughed lightly at him, as though he had told a funny joke. "You think Girgori wanted you and your little friend dead? Please, the only reason you were on our radar was because Governor Azazel saw that you two more likely than not both had powerful sacred gears and wanted us to observe you. Neither you or your little friend were supposed to die."

Naruto's blood boiled at the remark, wanting to shout and ask why if they weren't supposed too. They killed Issei and tried to kill him too even though they weren't supposed to? Then where the hell did they get the idea to do it from! Why did they do it! He bit his tongue in order not to scream these, to not fall into a tantrum. That would not solve their problem.

Fortunately for him, Ddraig apparently wanted this question answered as well. **[If Azazel did not order partner and my former container dead then who did?]**

Dohnaseek looked shocked at the fact the gauntlet asked a question before snorting to himself. "Of course that stupid bitch would think the legendary **[Boosted Gear]** was actually a lousy **[Twice Critical]**. Of course she would make that mistake, why am I not surprised?"

Naruto grew angrier and thrust forth his halberd closer to Dohnaseek's face, the tip of the spear half an inch away from his brain. He was half tempted to just shove it in and be done with it until he remembered he still needed answers. He took a calming deep breath and let it out, feeling his anger once again slowly dissipate. "Just answer Ddraig's question," he grunted out.

"Fine. You want an answer, here is an answer. There are people in this world that you have to truly fear more than the Lord Azazel. Lord Azazel, despite his demeanor at times is a rather peaceful man. However, there are other monsters out there and when one approaches you and oddly offers you power in exchange for a service you take it. We were approached with an offer and we took it despite the fact it might alienate us from the normal fallen. I would after all like to be on the side that lives."

Naruto was startled. "Side that lives? What are you talking about?"

Dohnaseek just smiled sardonically. "Because he is planning a coup to over throw Azazel and we were all members. Killing you and collecting your gears would only benefit the cause. It would have been nice to have powerful gears such as yours but it appears that will not be happening. Pity. I wish I could have seen it. The war would have been glorious. Unfortunately for you I believe our time is up."

Naruto took a step back, preparing to fight again in the sand dune if he had to. Dohnaseek only laughed manically though as he erupted into flames while Naruto watched in horror. The fallen grinned at him. "What you don't think the man who recruited us didn't have a failsafe installed? Raynare was probably fingering the trigger the entire time wondering why I hadn't reported back in a while. I was supposed to have killed you already after all." He continued laughing even as he turned to ashes and spread like dust in the wind.

Naruto stared at the spot where his prisoner had originally been, the only thing left of his opponent being small little black pieces of ash that mixed in the sand. As if finally feeling the weight of the situation Naruto threw up into the sand pit. He threw up until the only thing that escaped his lips was black bile that meant there was nothing left in someone's stomach.

"_Fallen Angels, supernatural wars, dragons in gauntlets…"_ Naruto thought absently as he wiped his mouth and made his way up the side of the pit toward where he left Issei's body. The sand made it hard to walk so he used his halberd to keep upright. "Ddraig…," Naruto began, pausing to choose his words carefully. "Just what kind of messed up world have I entered into?"

He could hear the dragon snort almost in amusement. **[Ha, in the world of the supernatural we call this Tuesday]** the dragon said easily. **[The possible wars, the secret agendas of higher powers, people from the Christian Faction acting like dicks; if all of this is going on then you know that all is well in the supernatural world.]**

Finally making it to the spot where he had laid down his fallen friend, Naruto frowned as he took all of it. Picking up Issei and putting him on his back again Naruto just grunted. "If this is what is in store then I need to think of something to keep this situation under control." He slowly made his way north, a way he knew would empty out into the urban streets.

**[If I may I have a suggestion]** Ddraig supplied helpfully.

"_**And we're just dying to hear it,"**_commented the cruel voice from within his head.

The blonde merely grunted, deep in thought as he saw the soft lights of the street in the not too far distance. He was almost in the street. Once there he needed to figure out what to do with Issei's body. He could not just drop it off at a police station and tell them someone murdered him. He also wouldn't be to stand it and leave his friend's body in the street. He came to a good common ground though. He had an idea about what he had to do.

**[We need to sit down and talk]** Ddraig said simply. **[All of us need to sit down and talk. Naruto included.]**

"And then what," Naruto asked softly, dreading what he knew he was about to do. It would probably weigh down on his conscience forever.

**[We train and prepare for what is to come. And let me tell you… what will come is not going to be pretty.]**

Life End

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Preview:

They always say the day after an incident is the hardest. The night of it said otherwise. Feeling more disoriented than ever before, the boy looks searches for answers and learns the hard truths of the world that many never will. The truth of this world is revealed by the boy with the yellow eyes.

Next Life: Illusion

Can you stand to know what secrets hide behind the fog in your mind?

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**Author's Note:**

**Hey everyone! Thank You for reading this revised chapter of "Dragon of a Different Kind." With this chapter, the First Arc "Lies" has been completed. And you'll be happy to note, with the exception of this authors note that the exact word count for this chapter is at 19,933 words. None of you can complain that it's too short because that is above the average maximum 15,000 I promised you. It wasn't a major overhaul but now it's been betaed to and the major fight scene has changed too so enjoy. **

**About the Chapter:**

**Overall I can't honestly say I was happy with the chapter. It was a little bit too long and jumped in logic in a few places that I tried to fix. If you think there was something I could have done better then please let me know. All criticism is accepted so please feel free to comment. There are currently almost 430 subscribers last I counted so if you have something to say feel free. With that said to answer some questions you may have about the chapter:**

**The Escape: I wanted to try and make Naruto's escape from the burning church to be action packed. I hope I did an okay job with that. In there I attempted to justify his goggles, especially since I made them look like the ones he had in the beginning of the manga. I also tried to make it a little more suspense filled with falling objects and impossible feats of acrobatics. I hope you liked it.**

**Naruto and Issei: I wanted to try and further expand upon the relationship between the two so I threw in a few more scenes with Naruto being emotional over the situation. Now I'm a naturally emotional person so I cried a little bit when writing them. I don't think they were that good but if they gave you a good cry then I guess I can say I did my job.**

**Boosted Gear: Yes, some of you saw this coming… and others thought of something out of completely left field. I would like to remind everyone that just because Naruto has Boosted Gear now that does not mean that he is replacing Issei in Rias's peerage or whatever bullshit like that you may have to say I'm going to do. Once again, I will reiterate, Naruto will stay human meaning no he is not going to be a devil, angel or whatever else enters your brain. Get the idea out of your head right now.**

**Fight with Dohnaseek: I took a bit of liberty with Dohnaseek's character I'll admit. The manga, anime, or even the light novel did not give me much more to work personality wise so I had to make up my own. I hope you liked it though I kind of made him a sadistic dick I think. As for why Naruto had so much trouble with him and the fight was like it was:**

**Plot Convenience: Not going to elaborate on that one because after reading it you should have figured out why.**

**Naruto is Human: Naruto is not a devil or anyone else. He is a human with limited experience (that he knows of). Rias and Akeno had an easy time with them because they are trained devils who had been in a fight before. Naruto had no supernatural advantage until those last few scenes really. He was fighting of instinct for the most part.**

**Three was just because I wanted to give the character a shot. I believe every character deserves a bit of limelight and I dislike how he and the other two fallen angels were taken out like tv show villain of the day characters**

**Raynare: As mentioned she is still alive and I have something planned for her and the other fallen who escaped in a later arc. I think you'll be quite happy with what I do with her and Naruto's reaction to seeing her again. Let me tell you the arc is already all planned out and I can't wait to write it. Wait for it.**

**Tailed Beasts: If you had not gleamed it already by the reveal of Shukaku then surprise! The tailed beasts are the voices in Naruto's head (what a shock).**

**General Announcements:**

**Story Direction: Once again some of you have asked me the organization Naruto will be joining but I can't give too much away without revealing anything plot wise. The most you'll get out of me is that it is a human organization and that's it. It is not a cannon existence so please don't guess something like Cao Cao's squad in the Hero Faction (hero's my ass by the way) or something like that. I'm also telling you now there will be OC characters you have never heard of before and a few OC Sacred Gears, 2 of which I created and another I borrowed from another author. I assure you these aren't mary sues or gary stue characters. They have weaknesses, strengths, feelings, and pasts of their own so I hope you'll like them as a whole.**

**Naruto's Abilities: As you can see I've introduced a basic idea of what Naruto's abilities will be in this chapter if what I did to Shukaku was anything. As you can see due to the poll as well as my own desire Naruto has now become a hand to hand combat/magic user. When I look back on it now there was just going to be too much going on with the original setup so I changed it and I hope you like it. Naruto also has Ddraig. Now, before you comment about how I'm going to be overpowering him first off I would like to point out Naruto is human. He is already at a disadvantage when compared to the other species due to their crazy abilities. Second of all the tailed beasts have been depowered more than they were at original state (the reason why will to be revealed later on in the story). Naruto's powers will mostly focus on Boosted Gear and the magic the Tailed Beasts skills will provide him with. All will be explained soon enough so give it a try before you call me overpowering him, especially in a story where someone who is barely in the top thousand strongest people in the world like Kokebiel apparently can destroy an entire town if he wanted.**

**Overall Arcs: I posted the current Arcs I wanted you to know about last chapter but I have some more now to and have moved up some in the overall plot so they will be a little earlier than planned originally.**

**Arcs:**

"**Lies" Arc (Done)**

"**Truths" Arc (Now Entering)**

"**O.D.D." Arc (On Deck)**

"**Hunt" Arc**

"**Devils" Arc**

"**Brother" Arc**

"**Burn" Arc**

"**Guardian" Arc**

"**Fallen" Arc**

"**Power" Arc**

**These are the current upcoming arcs planned and guess how many are not in the original light novel? Half of the ones listed! Yes that means if you keep reading you will be reading 5 separate arcs that have never been seen before in the High School DXD/Naruto Crossover category. Lucky you guys, don't you think?**

**So once again thank you for reading and please leave a review with comments, questions, criticism, or whatever. Even flame if you want because when flamers do then I just giggle.**

**See you soon.**


	4. Life 4: Illusion

**Special thanks to my new beta The Flippant Writer!**

**Don't forget to read the author's note below for story details! With that in mind...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or High School DXD as they are owned by their respective authors and publishing groups. Please support the official release of both stories!**

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Life 4: Illusion

The darkly lit room began to brighten as shadows began to graze across the top wall. The change was easy to notice with the open curtain allowing light to seep into the room. The little bits of light stretched across his floor and onto his bed, dancing across the dreamless eyes that had stared into the void the entire night. They did not even twitch as the sun did its morning routine of creeping into his eyes that would have eventually forced him to wake.

His body had also been inactive for a while. Since he had gotten home and removed his clothes down to his boxers, he had laid there in bed, playing with his goggles lightly in his hand as though he had expected them to do something. Maybe, to him, it was an anchor to the reality of the situation. It was the thing that reminded him that he was not living in a fantasy like he had hoped. A normal dream would have ended by now.

This nightmare never seemed to have an end in sight.

Looking back at it now, he realized that in that moment telling his friend's body all those things that he would do, that was the easy part of the coping apparently. Accepting your friend was dead had apparently been the easiest part. People had always said that it was harder to accept such a thing. He found the part that came after acceptance to be more horrifying than even when he had watched them kill his friend.

Living with what happened…it made you think. It made you wonder what could have happened had you done something different. It made you wonder if maybe, just maybe, he had taken a different route to get to Raynare or if he should have just not given into his anger in the first place and attacked his captor directly. It was shown clearly on the fallen angel's face that she did what she did in front of him as an insult to his defiance. To show him no matter how much he tried he would not have been able to save Issei.

The most obvious difference he thought about would have been what might have happened had he not gotten in that van with her and Issei. If he had allowed his paranoia to win out, what would have happened? A big part of him, a guilty conscience maybe, said that Issei probably wouldn't have died had they not been there but he knew the reality of it. Even if he had not gone Issei still would have died and then she would have come for him. He would have been even more unprepared. He would have died.

So could there have been anything else he could have done if anything? He honestly didn't know and logically he knew he did all he could but the feeling still remained. The hole that was there in his heart just proved it. It hurt a lot and the worst part was what he knew he could never tell anyone what truly happened to Issei.

Who would believe him if he tried? Who would honestly believe him when he said a fallen angel stole his friend's soul and a weapon came out of it that decided to pick him as his new partner? Of course, he could show them but what the hell would happen to him? This was apparently a secret that people had taken great lengths to hide in plain sight and what would happen to him if he were to tell the world what happened. He could not have been the first person to try and spill the beans and he would not be looking forward to knowing what happened to the last person.

"_**So how long are you going to lay there?"**_ asked the cruel sounding voice from within his mind, reminding him of something else he had found out this night.

He didn't have schizophrenia. Those voices in his head were not just hallucinations like he, his parents, and the doctors had thought. Apparently they were alive and their own individuals, not just facets of his own imagination. Him having his magic proved that theory full out.

Originally, when he had first thought about them and his connection to magic, he had thought his mind had built them as a subconscious regulatory system in order to control the various focal points of his power. It had made sense at first, especially when they were the ones who helped him unlock the subconscious blocks on his magical abilities. The various personalities would have been there to help keep his emotions, and thus his magic, in check.

Unfortunately for him the theory ended up falling flat on its face when he discovered that there were actually other souls connected to his own much like the connection Ddraig had established when linking **[Boosted Gear]** to his soul. The mind developing personalities for power regulation seemed plausible. The mind creating apparently nine entirely different souls to regulate power was physically impossible, especially since if he had to guess the human mind was incapable of even processing how a soul was created. So with that theory out the window he had to take another crack at it.

The most logical conclusion was that, going off what both Raynare and Ddraig had said, was that they were also sacred gears. It made sense. She said that she was planning to extract them so that would have made a great deal of sense, especially if all of them could be summoned as weapons like **[Shukaku]**… until Ddraig once again decided to burst his thought process and inform him that sacred gears with sentience were rare and few. With that pointed out the new partner of the Red Welsh felt like banging his head up against the wall.

So sentient sacred gears were a rare breed, statistically speaking it would end up being next to impossible to have nine sentient gears, hell it was probably never even heard of before to have this many gears in one person's body naturally so he was left stuck once again with no answer. He hadn't even talked to Ddraig or the voices since he got home because while he was incredibly upset about the death of his friend he also did not know how to deal with the voices overall.

What was he supposed to say to them? Ever since he was nine he had heard them. He could almost remember the first time they had talked to him, saying his name over and over again, asking him questions about things he could not know nor did he remember. He could still remember when he had asked his parents if hearing voices was normal. They had only looked at him and when asked what they said the boy had at the time answered earnestly. How was he supposed to know that it wasn't normal after all?

It wasn't until they had taken him to see a psychiatrist that he had found out that it truly was an abnormality. He was afraid at the time of what might happen to him. Due to his appearance it had been hard enough to make friends but now he had to deal with voices in his head talking all the time? He had been on edge for weeks, especially when they had started making him take drugs to help the problem. And for a while he thought they had been working too.

He went four more years without ever hearing the voices in his head. He had been able to go on normally… if hanging with your pervert of a best friend who slowly descended further into the ways of eroticism could be considered such. To him though it was a life and it was one that he had rather enjoyed. It wasn't until he was thirteen that he had started hearing them again and by then he had already been well on his way into the school year. It had been weird, hearing voices suddenly start talking to you in the middle of class again. He had almost freaked out and had luckily managed to get his teacher to let him go to the nurse.

From then on the pills had used to regulate his problem stopped working and he was hearing them all the time again. Looking back it made sense that the pills would stop working, especially if they were souls, though he did not quite get why they worked in the first place then. He never told anyone though. He was too afraid of what his parents might say and what might have been done to him by doctors too. The only one he had told was Issei, who had promised not to tell anyone else it had resurfaced. He also went out of his way to help him whenever he needed in when he started hearing them a lot.

So now that he knew what they were, really, what was he supposed to say to them? Was he supposed to contact them and start question the heck out of why they had kept trying to talk to him all these years? Why didn't they just tell him what they were in the first place so he didn't have to live his life believing that he was crazy? Of course, the idea they were anything else would have been insane to him at the time but quite frankly it just bugged him to know that all these years' doctors had been telling him that he was crazy. Hell, he had started to think he was too. To know now though that he wasn't though, that they weren't just hallucinations…

After everything that happened within not even 24 hours of time he just felt exhausted mentally and physically. Despite knowing that these things pissed him off, he couldn't even bring himself to care at this point. All he knew was…

"Naruto, are you awake yet honey?"

The mentally exhausted blonde turned to look at the clock on his desk towards his clock and stared blankly at the seven fifty flashing across the screen. He had been so deep in thought he had missed his alarm was late to breakfast, something that was unusual for him all things considered. His mother had driven it into his head not be late for breakfast since he had been young lest she comically, and painfully, knock him in the back his head with a spoon. Around the time he became eleven he had almost never been late to breakfast again.

He heard a knock on the door and cocked his head slightly to see his mother's honey-brown eyes peer through door and swiftly locating him on his bed, his back on his bed and goggles in hand. She swung the door open fully and instead of a stern look she gave him one full of concern. "Son?" she asked, her tone soft as she walked into the room slowly. "Naruto, are you ok? You're never late for breakfast." She scanned her eyes across his body and he silently thanked that his magic had regenerated his cells rather quickly and not left scarring. "You're not even dressed yet and school starts in forty minutes."

The blonde remained silently, trying to think of what to say to her. He loved his mother but could he really tell her what happened? Could he honestly tell her that he and his friend were tortured by beings from myth? Could he tell her that his friend was killed in front of him and that he had started a fire as a result of losing himself to his rage? Should he tell her that he fought one of his friend's killers to the death, gained access to powerful magic, and dropped his friend's dead body in front of the hospital before running away like a coward?

Did he even want to drag her into a secret he has been forced to know and will now have to bare?

So instead of telling her of the truth he had found, he told her the lie instead. "Sorry, mom," he apologized, putting the goggles down and trying to look sheepish. "I didn't sleep well last night." That wasn't a lie at least. The best lies after all were built on partial truths. "I had a nightmare and kind of lost track of time."

His mother's look softened even further as she sat down on his bed next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it," she inquired, fishing for the cause of his distress. "It may help you."

"_It probably would if I didn't want to keep you safe,"_ he thought absently before he turned to reply. "Sorry mom but it's not really something I can put into words. It's just a bad feeling is all."

His mother looked hesitant for a moment before sighing and standing up. "All right," she said, her eyes never leaving him. "Are you going to be okay to go to school?"

"_If I don't it will look suspicious,"_ he thought absently and felt like he was suddenly a criminal running from the law. _"Technically I am a criminal now that I think about it. You don't just drop a dead body off at the hospital and run away like nothing happened."_

"Naruto," his mother repeated his name, stopping all train of thought as he realized he had yet to answer her question.

"Sorry, mom," he once again apologized quickly. "Yeah, I'll go to school, just give me a few minutes to get dressed and I'll be down in a bit." She gave him one last look before nodding at him and going out the door. He heard her footsteps echo down the hall before the light tapping indicated she was walking down stairs. He let out a small sigh as he almost lethargically removed himself from his bed, stretching lightly as he did so.

"I wish I could tell her..." he said softly to himself as he went to his closet. "I wish I could tell her how FUBAR things went yesterday."

A glowing red circle appeared around the top of his hand as he pulled off another uniform set from the hanger. **[You and I both know you can't do that partner]** came the voice of the Red Welsh Emperor. **[If you tell her you're just dragging another person along for the ride into this mess.]**

"_**Dragon's right kid,"**_ the cruel voice from its mental link, which he now knew was what they called the method used to talk to him since they weren't actually in his head. _**"Telling her would be nothing but trouble."**_

"_Voice or whatever the hell your name is, just shut up,"_ the blonde growled angrily over their link. _"We'll talk tonight and not before, got it?!"_

The voice remained silent, signaling it got the picture as Naruto pulled on his button up and began to button it. His hand glowed again. **[Don't you think you're being a little bit harsh with them]** asked Ddraig. **[They did help you last night a lot even before you and I became contracted. Should you not be a little more lenient with them?]**

Naruto sighed as he pulled up pants and stared at his glowing hand. "I know that but… they've been making me think I was crazy for years and now they just suddenly start helping me out of the blue," he pointed out. "You don't find that weird in any way, shape, or form?"

**[Be that as it may, should you not listen to what they have to say? It might actually be important.]** The dragon did have a point. Whatever they had to say could explain what the reasoning for their behavior quite easily. Maybe a small part of him was just being spiteful at this point, he could admit that, but he didn't want to deal with it. Not now. He could handle it tonight.

"I know that… but with what happened yesterday I need to be prepared," the blonde stated as he finished his normal attire by putting on his tie and attaching the goggles to his head. "I dropped Issei's body off at a hospital last night. With the fire and the dead body of a student appearing out of nowhere someone is bound to start trying to connect the dots and that will more likely than not be the police. I'm going to need to be able to think without voices rattling in my head today and so far just pushing dealing with them to the side is better for now. It might seem harsh but at this point it is the best I can do."

**[You do realize that removing Issei's soul just caused a heart attack right?]**

The blonde paused before looking back toward his glowing hand. "Removing a sacred gear causes a heart attack?"

**[You have to understand something Naruto. When the soul leaves the body, all systems within the body cease to function. Now if you die naturally, say, of old age, then when the soul leaves the vessel then it is because the body no longer has enough life force to retain it and has aged too much. However, when a soul is removed forcefully, like what happened with Issei, then it acts almost akin to having a heart attack. All that life force you have saved up, the stuff that powers your body, it all just suddenly dries up. Suddenly body parts don't function properly and blood, the very essence of living things, just stops going to the places it should, usually the heart is the first thing that goes in this case. That's why I say when the humans examine Issei it will look like a heart attack to them. It's actually much more complicated than I'm explaining but that's the gist of it.]**

"… You're mean to tell me that this whole thing is going to look like an out of nowhere medical problem for Issei? That this will just look like all one big chance of fate or something?"

**[I wouldn't say it like that but essentially that is the gist. Once again, much more complicated then I'm saying, but in terms of what it will look like to the average human eye then yes. That is to say, unless, since the last time I had a host that used me, the average human has developed a way to scan for life energy and looks for remnants that should be there but aren't and then we just get into a whole other branch of magical explanations that I never got. That stupid white scaled bastard was always kind of better at understanding magic mechanics than I was.]**

Noting to ask about the 'scaled white bastard' another time, Naruto was deep in thought over the situation. As much as it pained him to think so, this was a good thing. It meant that people would not be going around asking as many questions about what happened. Less lies he had to tell that way. It also saddened him, however, that most people, not even Issei's parents, would ever be able to know how he truly died.

Sighing to himself, Naruto went and picked up his bag up from next to his desk. He had found it on his way to the hospital last night within the unmarked van that his captors had apparently ditched. Idiots had also still left the keys in the vehicle too. It had been rather easy to get at it and looking at his and Issei's bags he saw nothing was missing so he took them with him.

Closing his room door, Naruto walked down the stairs and went to the kitchen, where he saw his mother sitting down at the table reading the morning paper. Across from her was a quickly put together breakfast that he could eat on the go, which he was quite thankful for. Walking up right next to her, his kissed his mother on the cheek. "Morning officially, mom," he said as he pulled out a cup from the cabinet next to the table and got a drink of water from the sink. "What are you reading about?"

His mother looked perplexed as she put down the paper and refolded it. "Nothing, it seems that there was a fire at the abandoned church yesterday on the other side of town," she commented, taking a sip from the tea she had next to her and not even noticing her son's eyes dilate slightly. "According to the initial findings apparently the church wasn't as abandoned as everyone thought. After they managed to put the fire out apparently they found the charred remains of several people in the basement as well as several weird looking alters. Police are calling them a cult of some kind."

A cult, huh? At least he knew the typical line of thinking he had wasn't off when he had claimed that they were such. Of course he knew now that his findings weren't right but it was still a good guess on their part. He regretted starting the fire even if he didn't do it on purpose but it was done and there was nothing he could do about it now.

Naruto took a gulp of water, enjoying the cool liquid moving down what he now realized was a really dry throat. "Wonderful," Naruto commented sarcastically and played along, acting like he was surprised. "Never expected a cult to pop up in town. Guess they show up where we least expect them now, don't they."

"I just never thought something like that could happen here," his mother said, staring at the front page of the burned down church. "Everyone thought that place was abandoned and now this pops up? Honestly." She then gave him a stern look. "After this Naruto I don't want you out to late for a while, do you understand me? And if you are you have to call. Your father and I went to bed last night knowing you were with Issei probably but please just let us know when you're going to be late and what you're doing so I don't have to be such a worried mother."

Naruto, despite knowing that what she said was not exactly the case, only smile lightly to keep up appearance. "Ok mom, I got ya." He looked at the clock and noticed that it was eight ten and that he needed to get to school. Knowing he was not going to like the day Naruto grabbed his breakfast from the table and took his bag from the chair before walking towards the door. "I'll see you later mom," he shouted as he left for school.

* * *

(8:20 AM, Old Student Building, Kuoh Academy)

The room was deadly silent as the student council president stared at the person sitting across from her. The room was tense despite the current looks of the four people within its walls. She would have been surprised if it wasn't given the current situation. It was not every day that the house of worship that was their natural antithesis blew up out of nowhere… nor was it normal that an incredible unknown amount of magical power suddenly appears and then vanishes in the same spot. What was completely worse was finding out that one of the prospects to join them had been found dead that night in front of a hospital either. It was these inconsistencies that brought the four together this morning in hope to figure these problems out and put them to rest.

Sona Sitiri, known by the alias of Souna Shitori by her human peers, could only gaze at the despairing look on her red headed friend's face and sigh. Adjusting her glasses, the black bob cut-haired girl decided to end the silence. "I hope you understand that when I told you to recruit him that you should have, and now that you've screwed up for not doing so," she commented sternly. "Because of your inability to get your act together, the fallen that took root in the area decided to beat you to the metaphorical punch instead and now one of the students under my care is dead." She took breath, allowing herself to stay composed while she let her comment sink in. "Do you know what you've done, Rias?"

The girl sitting across from her, blue-green eyes lost in thought and crimson tresses splayed about, only sighed as she hugged her arms around herself and pushing up her already incredibly generous bust. The small frown that lined her face told Sona more than words could at this moment. Her heart was filled with regret and she knew that it was her fault.

Instead of allowing the thought to sit, however, Sona decided to continue pushing in the knife. "You, like I, are the caretaker of this territory. What happens here is our responsibility and a student has died under our watch, a sacred gear user no less, and a possibly powerful one at that. I left him alone because you had told me that you would be making him a member of your peerage but it appears that I should have done something instead. What were you waiting for, Rias? Why did you wait?"

The young devil from the house of Sitiri was really curious at this point. Rias, her friend whom she had known since childhood as well as the one who was her rival, was usually smarter than this. She did not make these kind of mistakes because she was too caring about people to let it get to a worse point. She took care of the members of her peerage as though they were her family and she respected that greatly about her rival.

But this mess… it should not have gotten here. It should not have gotten to the point where one of students at school died because of complacency and this was exactly what it was. There was no other way to describe how the redhead had screwed up. So just what had happened?

The red haired Gremory heiress could only sigh as she brought a delicate hand to her head and gingerly rubbed her temple as though she was nursing a headache. "I don't know Sona," she replied, her usually cheerful voice filled with great sadness. "I had not expected this. I had thought that the fallen wouldn't have acted this quickly. I had thought that the fallen observing him would have taken her time. I had been planning to give him a leaflet and…"

"…use the innate human desire to live to summon you after she stabbed him, is that it," asked the voice of Sona's right hand Tsubaki from behind her master's chair, almost sounding incredulous about the higher devils plan. "You were planning to let him be killed and then summon you where you would revive him where he would look to you as some sort of savior and develop a complex toward pleasing you," she once again clarified though a bit more harshly.

It was just one of many methods to gain a servant and if you had to ask Sona also one of the more cruel ways. It was a practice that some devils had taken to when searching for servants with abilities. Let another from a different faction kill them and then when they are on the verge of death the can be revived by the devil in question. Not only does it make the new servant think the other side must be instinctively cruel and that being a devil is not as bad as many would say but it also provides another effect. It generally makes a servant more obedient and willing to follow orders due to their lives being saved by their new master.

It's essentially basic psychology if one were to think about it. All over the news in both the human world and their own they occasionally broadcast stories of acts of bravery where one has saved the life of another. At first it's an act of kindness but some of these people stay in contact and develop lifelong friendships as a result of what happened. The same effect could be applied in the evil piece system, a system that can virtually revive people from death so long as they have not been dead for too long. When a devil resurrects that person it becomes a similar matter as their master saved that person from death and as such either forms that attachment or serves for the sake of the ideal of the life debt in general. It was in a way a form of manipulation and one of the worst kinds.

"_Still,"_ Sona thought to herself as she stared at the redhead, _"To think that she was going to let the boy die first. Strategically it makes sense but it just seems cold of her overall. That's not like her."_ Sona could only think of one of the possible reasons why she would have used such a method but decided not to pursue the line of thought further at the moment. The young heiress sighed. "Please tell me that was not what you were thinking of Rias?"

The one who the underworld had called the "Crimson Haired Ruin Princess" only proved her original thought right when she lowered her head slightly. "I was planning to revive him right after. There would have been no harm done to our precious little junior."

"Regardless of what happened though," interjected Akeno, the beautiful long black haired girl who stood behind Rias began, "the one known as Issei Hyoudou is dead. The question is how we deal with the situation." Akeno Himejima was usually quite cheerful, regardless of what came from her mouth. But today she only held a solemn look on her lovely features. Her purple eyes were filled with a sadness Sona did not quite expect to see, not that she thought that Akeno was uncaring usually. It was just not something she had expected.

"There is no chance of recovery is there," Rias asked softly.

Sona sighed and leaned back into her chair, her eyes gaining a soft look. "Unfortunately no," she stated factually. "If we were going to recover him and his body for revival we should have done it earlier. By now he is more likely than not in a human morgue being autopsied if his parents already gave permission. Also take into account that even if they weren't that police already would have begun filling out reports and the media would have probably received a leak about someone dying too. It is not necessarily high profile worthy but the case of his sudden death on the same night the church burned will most certainly turn a few intrigued heads. There will be too big a paper trail to cover up even if a mass hypnotism was used. At this point it is out of our hands."

"And of the fallen angels," Akeno asked, her tone wary as she broached the crux of the overall problem. There was something in her eye that spoke volumes about how she felt for them. Unadulterated hatred. If it had not existed before then it was certainly there now.

"I went and investigated the church personally after most of the police left and I could hypnotize the few that remained," Tsubaki reported. "It was definitely a hideout for the fallen angels and the humans associated with them. From the few things I could make out they had various ritual circles I could not recognize set up. However I could find no signs of whether or not they would be coming back. I can say one thing though for sure: whoever they had down there fought them because there were signs of a struggle."

Sona turned to look at her queen with a quizzical brow raised. "What do you mean, Tsubaki?" she asked. "Could it have been Hyoudou?"

Tsubaki adjusted her own glasses. "I do not believe so," she said promptly. "Unless Hyoudou suddenly gained control over the little magical ability he was thought to have and managed to blow the head off the body of one of the fallen exorcists present, then no." Seeing their looks of confusion she elaborated. "One of the bodies, according to the officers at the scene, was missing its head. Not even the skull remained intact from whatever punched it. Issei Hyoudou was nowhere near strong enough to do something like that as it is physically impossible for a human to crush a person's head nor did he have enough magic, as observed by everyone in this room, to perform such a feat. The logical conclusion was that they had another person there as well with them who was capable of such things… as well as not among the dead."

"There's something else, isn't there," asked Rias as she propped her head up in her hand that was leaning on an arm rest. Tsubaki looked hesitant to mention it so Rias prodded a little further. "Come on, Tsubaki. If you're holding something back I need you to tell us now."

"I agree, Tsubaki," Sona commented while looking at her queen. "Please tell us."

"… The hypnotized officer whom I was asking questions let me in on another piece of information while I was there. Apparently, nearby, an entire area within the forest had become a sand pit."

"A sand pit?" questioned Akeno as though it did not register. "Surely you're joking?"

"No, I went and visited it myself. Right now the police are hiding it due to not even understanding how it happened themselves but I know what I saw. From what I can guess it was more likely an event caused by a high class terrain transformation spell. I managed to sample a little magic left behind in the sand and managed to confirm the person who transformed the area was also the owner of the same signature of the person who released that massive burst of magical power."

Rias rubbed her chin in thought. "I don't know of any devil houses who uses sand-based magic, do you Sona?"

Before her rival could reply, her queen cut her off. "If I may interject my lady," seeing her master nod she continued. "The signature did not feel like that of a devil's at all. In fact, it was very human."

The other three women in the room felt their eyes widen slightly, though Sona was better at hiding hers than her friends were. "A human performing terrain transformation magic is not unheard of, but I can count the amount of magicians who are known to be able to do so on my hands," said a stunned Rias. "It is usually hard for them to perform such a feat and only the most talented magicians can do so. We would have been able to tell if one were in the area!"

"Then what of the second prospect?" pondered Akeno, catching the attention of the others in the room. "Naruto Tachibana, who was friends with Hyoudou I might add, is also a prospect for having a sacred gear is he not? Perhaps the struggle and the sand trap were him unlocking his sacred gear. Not only that but he was said to have high magic potential based on his reserves. It would all fit into place, would it not?"

Rias nodded, also recognizing whom she was talking about. "That actually might make sense Akeno…" Rias paused a second and looked the Sitiri heiress, whom looked visibly startled. Rias narrowed her eyes. "Sona, weren't you supposed to monitor Tachibana? You did, after all, stake a claim in him like I did with Hyoudou. Was his safety not your responsibility much like mine was with my claim?"

Instead of answering, Sona closed her eyes and kept calm. "Tsubaki, would you please bring me Saji from the student council office and do so quickly," she ordered, her face still quite calm. Her queen acknowledged the order and disappeared in a pair of purple Sitiri circles. She looked at Rias and Akeno and saw their looks. "My recently made pawn, Saji Genshirou, was tasked with studying Tachibana and looking out for him away from school grounds. He should be able to tell us that it wasn't Naruto."

The symbol of house Sitiri appeared behind her as her queen returned with her pawn. Saji, a young man with blonde hair and grey eyes, moved to stand by his master. "What can I do for you, madam president?"

"Saji," his master began without looking at him. "Give me your evaluation of Naruto Tachibana."

Saji scratched his head and a small frown appeared on his face. "Why do you want to know about that Yakuza looking guy, madam president?"

Tsubaki frowned at him. "Besides the fact that you have a similar look that makes you look like a Yakuza do I need to remind you in Lady Sona's place that you were more of a delinquent then Tachibana even comes close to being even before you began working for house Sitiri." A metaphorical arrow shot through Saji's heart as she continued her onslaught. "Need I also remind you that as of this moment he also has better grades than you as well?" Saji felt another arrow shoot him. "He also seems to have more magical potential then you too." Saji now felt like a pincushion there were so many arrows in him. "So please answer our lady's question."

With no more hesitation Saji began his report. "Naruto Tachibana. Currently 16 years in age and attending his second year the Kuoh Academy. His grades are superb, one of the highest in the year, and is also well known for having good athletic abilities despite lack of training or so it appears. Personality-wise, he mostly keeps to himself due to people around the school saying he looks like a Yakuza thug and what not. From what I have managed to gather, however, is that Naruto is actually a nice person overall. He is polite for the most part but has a bit of a snarky streak as well. It is also recorded in official school records that he has a minor case Schizophrenia…"

"Schizophrenia," interrupted Rias, surprised at the admission. "Are you saying that Naruto Tachibana, a young man with a rather calm demeanor, has such a mental disability?"

"I've looked into it personally," admitted Sona, surprising everyone in the room at the statement. "I've looked into his medical history and doctors have noted in sessions that he is rather high functioning for a schizophrenic and that it has managed to be controlled with drugs. Personally I have come to believe that it was a form of sentient gear talking to him through an established link despite how rare they are."

"Sona… most of the well-known gears currently with the amount of sentience were talking about are Longinus-Type gears," Rias pointed out in minor confusion. "I had believed that Issei was the one with the Longinus."

"I did not say that Naruto had a Longinus-Type gear," Sona reminded her. "I merely suggested that he had a gear with some conscious sentience that was reaching out to him. That's all I meant." She then returned her gaze back to her pawn. "Saji, have you been following Tachibana like I asked?"

Saji nodded his head dutifully. "I have, madam president," he said confidently.

"Then what did he do yesterday," asked his master curtly.

"Well, he went to a local café with Issei Hyoudou and his girlfriend," noted the blonde haired student council member, not noticing the looks of dread overcoming the features of both heiresses and their queens. "They sat there talking for a while and I managed to listen in on their conversation. Hyoudou's girlfriend was actually rather nice. I could see why the pervert was so head over heels for her." But then he grew angry. "But that bastard Tachibana made some comments almost like he didn't trust the poor girl. She talked about inviting them over for a game and after Issei pulled him over to the side where the bastard had the audacity to say he didn't trust her. The nerve of that guy! I mean…"

Sona ignored Saji as he went onto a rant about "how much of a bastard" Tachibana was and gripped the arms of her chair tightly. _"Naruto was near the fallen angel,"_ she thought quickly, her mind running a mile a minute. Of course that blonde would be unlucky enough to be drawn into this before she even had the chance to talk to him about his situation.

She had tried to talk to him about it over a week ago. She would have invited him to join the student council so she could have further observed him and kept him safe. Then, after she was sure of her decision, she would have invited him to join her peerage. From what she saw he had great potential as a pawn, a rook, or a knight piece. He would have been able to probably have done well with any of the positions, especially since his magic reserves seemed high enough on their own so he would have been able to use various enhancement Magic's to supplement his abilities. With that in mind, when she had met with Rias to decide who would get who, possible Longinus user or not she wanted Naruto. Besides that, he had two things going for him that she wanted: the unidentified sacred gear and the fact that he managed to keep her sister calm… she had really wanted him for the latter.

For some reason since she had met him his first year, the Sitiri could not help but be fascinated with the blonde. The thing that interested her at first was his ability to keep her sister calm. Never before in her life had she met a person whom had the ability to calm an enthusiastic Serafall before like he had. Not even her parents were capable of the feat and for some reason whenever the blonde's name was mentioned around her it had an instant calming effect of sorts. After the incident she had managed to ask her sister why she calmed down for him to which she responded with a small blush and said that "his magical aura was just so super warm and inviting" and that she was actually rather content.

From there on Sona had found an interesting thing to think about and one day, while seeing him laying down in the grass, she decided to talk to him to try and learn what Serafall meant that day. At first she did not quite understand. Being near the top of his year the blonde was good to have an academic conversation with even if he had been a year below her. He provided useful insights about topics that she had originally only thought of from a certain angle while it appeared he had thought of from another.

She found herself doing it every so often, not quite truly understanding what her sister had said but enjoying the conversations none the less. She rather did enjoy the talks and was surprised that she herself had not noticed it when her queen had asked one day when coming back from one of her talks with the blonde if she had been planning on recruiting him for his magic potential. It was at that moment she realized something. Even if going into the conversations she had been looking for something, over the course of a period of time she had completely forgotten her objective which was something strange for her in of itself. At first she had questioned how she had completely forgotten but after looking back on her talks with him she had realized something interesting.

She had begun to think of him as a friend. Her first human one at that.

There were no ulterior motives to put him into her peerage and no plans overall involving him. It was rather surreal at the time to her but when she thought back on it now she really enjoyed the feeling of having someone other than Rias or her queen to have good long conversations with. Her peerage was full of good people without doubts but she had instilled upon them the idea that she was their master and should be treated as such. It was rather isolating sometimes and Naruto had provided her with a much needed escape.

And then Rias noticed that he along with his friend Issei were both good candidates to become devils. The crimson haired devil had expressed interest in having him in her peerage and something inside her that day had told her not to let it happen. Instead she gave her Issei and said that she would take Naruto as a member of her peerage instead. Surprisingly, her friend accepted it quite easily, announcing happily that she believed Issei had a Longinus and thanked her for giving him to her. Instead of feeling duped, she had been rather satisfied with the result regardless.

So she began working up a way to draft Naruto into her ranks. It was a rather simple plan. They had known each other long enough now to where she could ask him to join the student council as an assistant. He definitely did not have the popularity among the students to get elected but as an assistant to the council by appointment it wouldn't matter. After that she would ease him into student council life and procedures for a bit before finally asking him to officially join her peerage. It was, admittedly, one of her more simple plans, but it should have turned out fine in theory.

However, the perversions of Issei Hyoudou and his cohorts had thrown a wrench into her plans when she had gone to recruit him that day. He had, apparently, decided he needed to save his friend and left before she could even ask. And then the rest of the week she had been so backed up with student council work she just could not get to it.

Now she finds out that the person that was her potential peerage member was so close to a fallen and she didn't even know about it?

The black haired heiress finally had enough. "Saji," she interrupted, bringing the boy out of his rant and having him look at her. "Do you realize that girl was a fallen angel?" Seeing her pawns shocked look she decided to ask a question she realized she would regret. Preparing herself for a headache she rubbed her temple in frustration. "What happened Saji? Where did they go after their conversation?"

Saji began rubbing his chin. "Well after that they…" he stopped, his face going blank. "They um…"

Yes, there was the headache Sona decided. But before she could address it her queen took up the task. "What do you mean you don't remember," she asked, disbelief filling her voice. "You can't really tell me that you forgot what they did, can you?"

"If I may, madam president," asked Rias's queen, gesturing toward her pawn. Nodding in acceptance Akeno walked over to Saji and placed her palm on his head. Her body glowed slightly, showing that she was using her magic before the glow disappeared and she stepped backward with widened eyes. "Madam President, your pawn seems to have been afflicted with an angel's memory erase spell."

"But how?" cried Tsubaki in surprise. "Their magic to erase memories doesn't affect non-humans! It was a spell developed specifically to deal with them!"

"Yes but the Evil Piece System is not perfect," replied Rias, who had become completely serious. "There are some gaps to it especially within the first few months of turning someone into a reincarnated devil. For a short period of three months after the transformation they can still be afflicted with magicks like a fallen angel's memory manipulation spell. From what I understand, Saji has only been a devil for two months' time, has he not?"

Sona nodded, coming to the same conclusion. "You're correct," the student council head admitted before shaking her head. "One of the fallen must have snuck up behind him and knocked him out before erasing the knowledge. Any experienced fallen would have been able to sense him watching the group and must have wanted to keep us from knowing what happened."

"Only Hyoudou was reported among the dead as of this morning nor have local police reported any kidnappings so that means…"

"NARUTO, YOU BASTARD!" they heard shouting from outside, causing the five devils to look up and toward the window. Sona and Rias quickly got up, their respective peerage members following them, and went to the window. There they saw a sight that had they not known differently would have been comical.

Walking in the gate was Naruto Tachibana who looked like he usually did when coming to school were it not for the fact that his friend Issei was not by his side. This was a fact that Issei's other two friends Matsuda and Motohama were readily trying to point out to the blonde that continued ignoring them. But to the four experienced devils their worst fears had become obvious. The lethargy that appeared in his eyes, the sudden increase in magical power they sensed from him, and the most glaring feature that proved their thoughts: the eyes. Eyes once so full of life now only held dread from what they could see.

Continuing to gaze at him as he and the two perverts following him walked into the main building, Saji decided to sum up the situation in a manner that Sona found completely crude but could be the best way to describe it.

"Oh fuck."

* * *

(9:00 AM, Kuoh Academy Auditorium)

Naruto Tachibana hated assemblies. To him, for whatever reason, they never served much of a purpose in his eyes. If there was one thing he and his peers usually could agree on it was always usually for an annoying reason that they gathered them.

There was one time that the administration assembled them to read them a riot act about not doing drugs because apparently one student had been found with them. He could say with confidence that Kuoh Academy did not have a bloody drug problem. For one, a lot of the students in the school were there on scholarships. If someone were caught doing drugs here then they would have not only lost their scholarship but been expelled like the poor sap they found the stuff with. The other reason was mainly because of the people who attended the school. Usually people who attended were students with bright ambitions for the future in what they did. There were not many students at Kuoh who were unmotivated, with people having to admit that even the perverted trio were motivated to an extent even if it was for the wrong reasons.

And that was only one of the examples. Sometimes they had teachers speaking to inform them about upcoming events and remind them of something that was coming up. There were also times when the student council occasionally called an assembly to speak about student issues. Of course that wasn't to say there were many assemblies but they were usually annoying none the less. Many had thought going in that it would be no different.

A big picture of one Issei Hyoudou taken from the previous year's school yearbook standing in the auditorium along with various forms of flowers on stage next to it was not something that anyone had been expecting.

Whispers went throughout the auditorium as students continued to be seated in the rows that their homerooms had been assigned too. Teachers lead their class in and had them sit down while the rest of the students and their classes continued to pour into the room. Many people had speculated what was going to happen when teachers had said they would be running on a delayed schedule due to having homeroom run till nine for an assembly. People in class had speculated what it was going to be about this time. Some laughed thinking the school was probably calling them to make a minor announcement or something.

But as soon as everyone walked into the room it was easy to figure out what had happened. The picture up on stage, the flowers, the solemn looks on the faces of administration staff; it all added up and had students face a reality many of them had not thought of until now. One of their own had died, and that someone was Issei Hyoudou.

Looking up at the still shot of his face, the blonde could feel the various emotions he had though he had managed to have gotten out that night resurge into his being with a vengeance. All the pain, anger, and feelings of despair came back as the picture of his friend sat on stage, staring at him with those expressive looking eyes and almost questioning him why the blonde did not try harder to save him. Tears that had dried returned to his eyes and he was not the only one.

A few seats away from him, Matsuda and Motohama had finally realized why their friend did not show up this morning and for the first time since knowing them they both cried over something not perverted. Tears drained down their face and hit their uniforms as they both looked at each other and then to him. A small look of understanding passed their eyes, finally knowing why he had been cold to them earlier as the looks of regret crept in. For the first time as long as they had known each other, they had felt a collective sadness way on all three of them.

Students began to quiet down as the principal, a gentleman with greyed hair and rather short of stature, walked into the front of the assembly room and stood next some of the teachers and administrators in front of the room. All of the people up front were of some important status to the school or another. They shared looks of regret and sadness.

The principal finally began. "Thank you all for coming today," he started, his slightly higher pitched voice echoing throughout the room over the microphone. "We have come here today to inform you, as you might have guessed already, that one of our own has passed tragically last night. Issei Hyoudou, a second year student, was found near the hospital last night at around eleven forty-five last night."

The room was eerily silent. There were no expressions of shock or dismay and Naruto tightened his grip at the thought. The principal however took it as his chance to continue. "Preliminary tests have shown that Mr. Hyoudou passed on due to a sudden attack of an unknown kind upon his system. The leading physician on the case however has concluded that it ended up giving him a heart attack. Make no mistake however that his death was of natural causes and from what doctors say was, more likely than not, painless."

Naruto's grip on his seat tightened further to the point where he thought it might break. Painless? Doctors thought his death was painless? If only they knew how painful it was for him. If only they knew despite how much pain he had experienced Issei still managed to get a few cool lines in before death like some hero out of a shounen manga.

"Mr. Hyoudou was a valued member of the community and a student whom came here into our care who was ready to leave the next year prepared for the world. As school staff and administrators it was our responsibility to oversee his education, to nurture and care for our students as though they were our own. It is sad to see such a passionate flame burn out before his time. But we must persevere. We will be here for you, our students to so that you may talk and share your feelings. Grief counselors are also available at your convenience if you need them…"

"Why would we," asked a feminine voice from the crowd. "I don't know about the rest of you but I'm glad the stupid pervert is dead! He and his perverted friends stole my underwear once!"

"Yeah," another voice shouted in defiance. "That pervert peaked on me and the rest of the softball team when we were in the showers! If were talking about anything why did the school administration not do anything when they peeped on a lot of the girls in the school!"

Murmurs of agreement began to circulate around the room as Naruto began to see red. These people… they dare spit on the memory of his friend! He might have been a pervert be he was a good person! He didn't deserve this! He didn't deserve to have people saying this at the end of his life! Even in death these people spit on his memory!

A girl who sat in the aisle seat in the row across from him stood up. "Why should we mourn a scourge to society like Hyoudou," she shouted and defied the administrators who told her to sit down. "He and his little friends terrorized all the females at this school, treating us like we were objects to be admired! And that was all he ever did. I bet the little pervert didn't even have plans for the future. In my opinion he's better off dead!"

Naruto abruptly stood, his hair covering his eyes. His steps were slow but he began to walk toward the girl, causing the rest of the students to become silent. They all knew him and Issei had been friends. The Yakuza look-alike was the best of buddies with the king of perverts. It was a well-known fact.

The girl who had spoken turned toward him as he continued to move toward her. "What's the matter, Yakuza boy," she sneered. "Did I hurt your feelings? Did you really expect me to say nothing? Are you going to silence me now? What are you going to-?"

She was silenced by a fist to the face that sent her flying onto the rest of the people in her row. The room watched in silent shock as for the first time Naruto had actually hit someone. They stared at him as he peered at the girl who was rubbing her cheek from the pain of the punch. Not even the administrators did anything, also too shocked at the fact that one of the top-scoring students would lash out at someone in such a way even if they had made fun of him.

The girl stuttered as she stood. "You… you hit me!" she sputtered. "You… you're you finally showing your true colors, you damned Yakuza!" She slapped him across the face but instead of sending him backwards it turned his head so she could finally see his eyes. Twin orbs of azure glared at her with pure hatred to the point where she unconsciously stepped back in fear. They were not the eyes of someone normal.

Naruto continued to just stare at her before he finally spoke. "Fuck you," he said at a whisper before steadily rising for all to hear as he continued. "Go fuck yourself. He might have been a pervert to you… no to everyone else, but do not mistake someone for not giving a fuck because he was a pervert!"

Naruto gripped his fists tighter to the point where his hands began to bleed and grit his teeth in anger. "Issei had been my friend since we were kids! While other kids made fun of me for the scars on my cheeks and my overall appearance he just told me to laugh it off! Whenever I was sad he was there to help relieve me of it with a funny joke or silly antic of some kind! To you he might have been just a pervert, but to me he was my precious friend who I will never be able to joke with, to laugh with over something stupid or cry when we just need a good one!

"So don't sit there on your high horse saying that it's okay for a person to die like it's something to accept, like he won't be missed by anyone. He had me, Matsuda, and Motohama who were his friends! Our childhood friend Irina would be sad to know that he is now gone. His aunts, his uncles, his cousins, his mother and father; his family still loved him of all things. You have the audacity to say he should not be mourned! Should I say you were a raving bitch upon your deathbed and comment that you will not be missed as such?! No because that would make me an asshole just like you and apparently the rest of the morons in this school!"

The blonde began walking toward the door, ignoring the defining silence he received. He passed rows of students who could only look at the blonde who normally kept to himself in mute shock, having never expected the outburst from him. When he made it to the exit he walked on through the hastily opened door and as it closed flipped the bird to everyone in the auditorium, not even caring about them at this point.

The room would remain in a stunned silence for the next few minutes, no one able to find words about how to even respond including the girl who had said what she did.

* * *

(11:00 AM, Kuoh Park)

"_I am so getting expelled,"_ thought the blonde to himself as he stared out at the park greenery. He was sitting where he and Issei usually sat whenever they came to the park, on a small brown bench for three in the parks corner. From there they had a beautiful view of the some of the closed of flowered sections as well as the parks towering tree system. It had been their favorite spot to hang out and talk, much like they had the week before when they came the last time, because not many people came toward the area overall.

They had frequented the spot since they were little. It used to be the spot of him, Issei, and Irina but after their friend left it just became their spot in particular. They had made a lot of memories there with their games and shenanigans. In their childish glee they had thought the park was their ground to explore, a world of fantasy where they could slay monsters, demons, witches, dragons, and so many other things that he couldn't even name them all. They had stupidly even thought about going on a quest to catch a leprechaun once and fight him after they had seen a silly American movie that had one as a villain of some kind. Looking back on it the idea seemed stupid now but when they were kids, to them, it was brilliant.

Soon enough, as they grew, the games slowly came to an end and it became just an area for them to hang and talk, say whatever they wanted without freedom or retribution from anyone else. It was here that Issei began to have his perverted fantasies and had Naruto laughing on the ground whenever they were mentioned much to the brown haired boy's dismay. And that was just one of the many things they had come to talk about over the years.

"_But now it all comes to an end, doesn't it,"_ he reminded himself as he slowly ate from the ramen bowl on his lap. Ramen was something that he had taken a liking to since he had been a kid. He always enjoyed the stuff and had been capable of having even a few bowls before he would ever be full. Of course his mom didn't let him eat it at home as much as he would have liked but that was because she had said it was bad for him and would "stunt his growth if he ate it constantly." A small part of him cringed at the idea for one reason or another though he could never tell why.

Regardless of that fact, ramen had eventually become a form of comfort food for him that he ate on special occasions or just when he was feeling plain down. Now had been one of those times.

As the blonde continued to slurp on his ramen, he heard a pair of footsteps slowly approach from the left of him. Of course he didn't care if there were, just because this was their spot did not mean they didn't get the occasional person who came through on a jog or something. With how loud he and Issei usually were they tended to get looks from them but it never really bothered him much. Issei had especially enjoyed it when a girl came through on a jog, enjoying looking at the tight spandex shorts and tight running shirt most had tended to wear.

"You're a hard person to find, Mr. Tachibana," commented a voice from his front, breaking him out of his musings as he noticed a pair of black loafers within his line of sight toward the ground. He startled slightly. He had not heard the person even stop in front of him.

He only sighed. "Sorry I'm so hard to find," the blonde commented dryly without looking up, not feeling like dealing with whoever it was. "Look if you're from the school administration telling me I've been expelled for my earlier actions just leave the official notice here and shove the hell off. I'm not in the mood."

The pair of shoes did not move an inch. "While I must admit the outburst in your auditorium did not exactly match your psychological profile, that is not why I'm here," the voice admitted. "I'm here more along the lines to ask you some questions about the death of your friend."

"_A detective, huh," _thought the blonde to himself as he looked up only to be surprised at what he saw. Instead of a gruff older gentlemen standing in front of him it was that of a person his age. He had a boyish looking face with short brown hair in a layered crop style. His skin was snow white and his overall body was that of a slim fit build. The most noticeable characteristic above anything else was his ovular steel rimmed glasses with piercing yellow eyes peering out from behind him. His mouth was contorted into a small thin line, showing no overall thoughts or feelings.

"_They let people my age be detectives,"_ he questioned to himself as he ran his eyes over the teen in the white button down shirt. "Why would you need to ask me questions? Wasn't Issei's death naturally caused?" He kept his face cool, showing he knew nothing despite the contrary. He couldn't let this guy get involved either otherwise the fallen angels might try and kill him too. He wasn't about to let another innocent person die.

However, instead of seeming put off by the answer, the brown haired teens face remained impassive. "Normally most people might consider what happened to subject Issei Hyoudou to be just an unnatural case of unexplainable sudden death," he replied curtly, inclining his head forward to allow his glasses to slip down his head lightly. The blonde felt his eyes widen as he saw the brown haired teens eyes glow lightly, becoming slightly unnerving to the blonde. "However, these eyes of mine tell me that your friend had his soul, as well as a sacred gear, more likely than not removed from his body due to a ritual created by the fallen angels. Would that statement happen to be wrong?"

As if almost upon reflex, the blonde lashed his right arm out quicker than even he himself thought possible. His surprise faded however when he saw the teen in front of him easily block it with his own arm. A soft click also registered in his ear as he inclined his head upward slightly to notice the barrel of a gun sitting on his temple, the click obviously coming from unlocking the safety. Feeling the cold metal pressing against his forehead the whiskered teen could only realize how much trouble he was in, especially when he looked into the glowing eyes of his new captor. They told him that he would pull the trigger his finger was on without hesitation if he had too.

At that moment realized he had made a mistake and knew two things now. The first point he realized was that the teen in front of him was not a normal person and the blonde had no idea where his allegiances lied. For all he knew this could have been an assassin sent by his previous night' captors to finish the job the fallen angel Dohnaseek was unable too. It would have made sense. They could have realized he probably would have expected another of their kind to come after him and would have tried to prepare as such so they would catch him off guard by sending one of his own kind. They had other human followers so human assassins would not be in the realm of improbability.

The second thing he realized was that he did not like having a gun pointed at his head. It was very uncomfortable, though that much should have been obvious. He apparently had superpower magic or whatever but still easily feared a gun? That was kind of messed up he decided but realized it was true. Humans were not durable creatures, as that fallen angel was quick to point out last night. They did not survive falls from long distances nor did they survive pierce damage to vital organs. He had already had his ability to survive blunt force trauma tested but he was not looking forward to testing if he could survive a bullet to the brain.

As though the teen in front of him was reading his thought, he decided to comment. "I see that look in your eyes," the brown haired boy said lightly. "You think I'm here to kill you, don't you?"

Despite the situation Naruto couldn't help it. "The gun pointing at my noggin says that kind of obviously, don't you think?" the tanned teen quipped, blue eyes staring right at the glowing yellows of the person who held him at gunpoint.

"You attacked me so I needed a way to keep you in line so I could ask my questions," replied the brunette challengingly, his monotone wavering slightly. "It was the proper reaction to the situation."

"I lashed out because you brought up the fallen angels and soul removal thing," the blonde countered quickly. "How am I supposed to know you don't work for the fallen? Apparently from what I managed to find out last night they have plenty of human followers. Excuse me if I got kind of antsy because of that."

The blonde slowly felt the gun leave his temple and he slid back against the bench in relief. The teen with the glowing yellow orbs regarded him for a moment before finally speaking again. "I'm not an agent of the fallen," he replied calmly, holstering his weapon in its brown casing on his belt. "I'm investigating the situation for my organization so we can try and resolve the matter of what happened."

The blonde continued to regard him skeptically. "And who exactly do you work for?" prodded the blonde lightly.

The teen in front of him adjusted his glasses back above his eyes and the glow that lit them disappeared as though they had never been there. After adjusting his black tie lightly he went and pulled a black leather looking badge casing from his back pants pocket. Opening it the blonde peered at what was written on it.

Within the case was a big golden shield with an occult-based star at the center of it. The teen spoke again. "I am Hayate Fujihara," the newly named Hayate began. "I am an agent of the Occult Defense Department, an organization created under the authority of the major global powers of the 1970s. Our mission is to protect humanity from all supernatural forces who wish to control us as well as build partnerships with other religious factions and groups where possible."

Naruto sat there as he listened to their explanation in mute shock before pointing something out that was bugging him. "Please don't tell me you go under the acronym ODD," he pleaded with a groan.

Hayate blinked rapidly in surprise. "That was a very astute assumption Tachibana," stated the agent with some surprise. "That is indeed correct."

"Oh come on," shouted Naruto. "Who decided that that was a good name for the freaking organization? Did anyone realize how stupid that sounded until you were named that?"

"Well according to the director, S.H.I.E.L.D. was originally up for grabs until someone realized that the American comic book group Marvel already owned the name," commented Hayate offhandedly, causing Naruto to palm his face. "Regardless of our name, however, our duty is to protect people. The incident from last night occurred here, within a devil territory that is usually taken care of by said devils fairly well, where a young man died last night having his sacred gear removed. I'm here to find out why this all happened."

"And how did you know I was there," asked the blonde as he accepted Hayate's reasoning.

Hayate took a seat next to him and stared right at him. "You unlocked your magic last night, did you not?" Seeing the blonde nod the agent continued. "Every person's magic has a unique signature, meaning every signature feels different from one another. No signature is the same."

"Your point," asked Naruto blatantly, not seeing where this was going. "If we're talking unique signatures how come you didn't suspect it was one of the fallen angel's magic or something?"

Hayate sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "It appears I am speaking to someone with absolutely no magic experience," he commented to himself as he ignored Naruto's indignant look. "Look, to put it simply, every time a person uses magic a bit of it remains in the air or, in case of the spell you used last night, in the area you transformed. All I had to do was perform an analysis on the sand grains and locate your unique signature. After that you were easy to track down, especially with that incredibly large magic signature of yours. Did you know you have more magical power than most high class devils?"

"High Class devil," Naruto questioned curiously. "When I fought the angel last night he said I had Virtue Class magic levels."

"Yes because he was going by magic level scale developed by angels," Hayate replied. "We'll discuss that more later possibly. For now I need you to tell me what happened last night."

Naruto hesitated slightly, still a bit unsure of whether or not he should tell. "What would you do with what I tell you?" asked the blonde.

"I'm unsure, to be honest with you. It would all depend on what you had to tell me. If it's something useful the agency may be able to help act against future assaults, especially if there is something in common with the other cases. As of this moment, you are currently the only known person to have escaped having their sacred gear extracted from their body. If we could learn anything from what happened to your experience we could apply it to our searches to keep a look out."

Naruto startled slightly, remembering Raynare mentioning that she had done the ritual before and wondering if any of the current cases known to them were caused by her. If that were the case… then she was more likely than not to do it again and again. More people would suffer and die. He didn't want that.

"It started a week ago," Naruto said, beginning softly as his the person next to him paid close attention. "About a week ago, Issei came to school all happy and what not. Myself and his two other friends, Matsuda and Motohama, were surprised considering how perverted Issei tended to be about a lot of things. The three of us were kind of in denial of the whole thing at first but I started believing when he brought in a picture of her the next day…"

"What did this girl look like," asked Hayate quickly as he pulled out a pad and pen, beginning to take notes. "I need some specific features."

"Long black hair that went down her back, smooth face, violet eyes, and she had the figure of someone you would see out of those teenage idol magazines," the blonde quickly intoned, remembering every detail of how she looks. Even if it wasn't her true appearance you don't exactly forget the looks of the one who killed your best friend, especially when her disguise looked the way it did. She was a beautiful girl of that much he was sure… one with a black heart that would kill you without a second thought.

"That's enough of a description," commented the agent of the O.D.D. blankly. He waved his hand. "Please, continue with what happened."

"The next day after showing us the photo the girl, Yuuma, showed up to hang out with him after school. After realizing she really was real Matsuda and Motohama cursed him out while I congratulated him. Of course, knowing what I do now I regret that but…"

"Could you please skip the reminiscing," interrupted Hayate curtly. "Focus on what happened yesterday on yesterday only. How did the incident start?"

"Well if you would stop interrupting me in the first place maybe I would have gotten their by now," Naruto snarled in anger. There was only so much he could take of someone constantly interrupting him and he had an extremely low tolerance level for it. It was bad enough that the guy seemed emotionless as it was.

Hayate once again blinked at him. "I apologize if this offends you but I am trying to get to the route of yesterday's events," he apologized. "Please, continue on but know that I may have to stop you in a few places for clarification."

The blonde could only nod. "Fine. Whatever. The problems of last night began when Issei invited me to meet him and his girlfriend at a café. I was interested in meeting the girl formally so I went and I just felt something completely off about her, telling me to stay away from her. I was kind of hesitant to talk to her but I tried prodding for information from her." He saw a glint of understanding enter the eyes of the person sitting next to him. "Something wrong?"

"No, please continue."

"Okay… Anyway, she eventually asked us if we wanted to join in a game with her and her friends. I really didn't want to but Issei convinced me that it would be a good way to make friends and reluctantly accepted it. She led us to a white van outside the shop that she said would take us to the game. Of course I should have been suspicious with all the weird priest looking guys in the van but I accepted it."

The blonde leaned forward, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at the ground. "Next thing I know I wake up with a cloth over my eyes attached to some cross and being dragged up a set of stairs. Eventually me and Issei were removed of our blindfolds and saw some guys with wings standing next to Yuuma with a whole bunch of those priest looking guys behind them." Here, the whiskered teen let out a harsh laugh of despair. "I thought they were a cult. They looked the part too. It was at that point that they revealed that they were fallen angels to us and that Yuuma, who was actually a person called Raynare, was one of them when she transformed."

"And what did this Raynare's true form look like?"

"She looked like an older version of Yuuma dressed in some kind of weird looking S&amp;M outfit."

"And the other angels? Do you remember their names and what they looked like?"

"Yeah, there were three. Mittelt, a short Lolita looking blonde in a black dress, Kalawarner, a blue haired women wore a suit jacket combo, and Dohnaseek, whose appearance no longer matters."

"Because you fought and killed him yesterday, didn't you?" asked the teenage detective look-alike, seemingly already knowing his answer. The blonde wanted to say something but didn't in the end. He probably couldn't prove he didn't do it yesterday anyway. Instead of being reprimanded however the blonde only received a nod in response. "It was to be expected. I found remains within the sand in the form of ash. I assume we will get to that part eventually, correct?" Once again the blonde gave a hesitant nod and he just sent a dismissive wave. "Then please, continue."

"Raynare, after revealing her true form, just mocked us." He clenched his fist. "She told Issei that she never loved him and just taunted us continuously when I was getting angry. Eventually she released me from my binds and in my stupid rage I just ran at her and tried to punch her face in. Something in me just clicked and magic surrounded my fist and I jumped to try to punch her with it…"

"It didn't work I assume."

"Not in the slightest," the blonde admitted reluctantly. "She just disappeared and smacked me from behind. She sent me skidding across the ground but I fought through those stupid looking priests so I could hit her. Would have gotten there eventually if that woman Kalawarner hadn't hit in the stomach and then stabbed my hands in with two of those spears of light."

"Interesting," Hayate commented while taking notes and observing Naruto's hands. "I don't see any sign of scarring like I would expect from such a thing. How did you heal them if you did not know the proper spell work to do so?"

Naruto cringed internally. Sure he was spilling what happened to this guy but should he really tell him about Shukaku and the other voices inside his head? He knew they weren't just voices now so it wouldn't be crazy to tell him. As it was he was probably going to have to ask how he beat Dohnaseek in the first place and have to show him the spear and **[Boosted Gear]** so why not? Probably because a part of him was still getting used to the fact itself and because another part really just wanted it to be a secret for now. So he decided to go with an answer that he only part of the truth…

"Honestly I don't know," the blonde said while still looking down, hoping the agent bought it. "I had just thought that it was magic or something that fixed my wounds after I exploded."

Hayate seemingly forgot all about the healing at that point. "Exploded?" he asked, incredulity seeping into his dull monotone. "Please elaborate. Where did you explode at any point in this tale because that is not in my notes at all."

"It happened after that bitch Raynare removed Issei's gear from his chest and he died that I lost it and the world kind of just went white. The next thing I know I'm trying to escape a burning building with the gear in my hand and Issei on my back. I had assumed that was the usual reaction when someone unlocked their magic."

Hayate's glasses dipped, revealing his glowing yellow eyes, as he jotted down notes and stared at him. "No, that's not the typical reaction at all," explained Hayate. "Though I can see why it was reported that a giant beam of light appeared in the sky. You have a massive amount of magical power, more than most humans who have been at this for a while are even capable of achieving. If what you're saying is true then your magic responded to your anger during the unlocking process and finally just exploded outward."

"So it's not normal then?"

Hayate merely sighed and rubbed his temple with the hand that held his pen. "Tachibana, if what happened was the norm for most human magic users you would have heard of more random explosions on the news by now, wouldn't you have?"

"That would suggest that there are a lot of magic users out there now wouldn't it," he shot back, openly asking for information. To be fair to him, he was basically dropping most of what he knew onto the table and receiving almost nothing in return. It was not exactly a fair exchange of information.

Hayate too saw where this was going it seemed. "I see you want to know more about the overall situation, is that it?"

"Yes, I do," responded Naruto in kind. "I want to know fully what I've gotten myself into here. No bullshit. My friend is dead because of this world I've been forced to enter into and I'm not going in blind if I can avoid it."

The brown haired boy seemed to ponder his point and nodded. "Fair enough," he conceded readily. "Please finish answering my questions and I will inform you of the truth of the world. Fair enough?"

Naruto frowned at the offer but knew he would probably not get much better. "Fine."

"Good. Now that we have that settled, please continue to relay to me what happened afterwards. Start from where you escaped the burning church into the forest. What happened then?"

"After I got into the forest the fallen, who had been knocked out I thought, rose from the burning building and flew off. I saw one flying towards my direction so I hid to I thought I could be safe. While I was hiding I tried to figure out a way to revive Issei. At first I tried putting his sacred gear on his chest to see if that would work but when there were no results I tried adding my own power."

"You do realize that that would have just succeeded in blowing up your friend's body probably, right?"

"Yeah, Ddraig told me the exact same thing," Naruto accidently slipped before covering his mouth with his hands.

Hayate however had gone into full alert. "Ddraig," he questioned intently. "Ddraig, the Welsh Dragon? The one the call the Red Dragon Emperor? You're friend Issei contained the Longinus-class gear **[Boosted Gear]**? What happened to it?"

"… I kind of put him on in order to help me survive."

Hayate stared at him. "… Excuse me," he said. "You put him on to survive?"

"Well I kind of was having trouble and he insisted that I couldn't use him to revive Issei so I should put him on to survive," explained the blonde a little nervously. Maybe Ddraig had been wrong. Maybe he could have revived Issei by sticking the gear back in. Maybe he had been responsible for his friend's death really.

"… The Red Welsh was correct when he said the gear could not revive your friend that much would be obvious to mostly anyone in the supernatural world. However, he has not been known to just accept a new wielder even if there hasn't been a recorded case of this happening."

"Well it did," Naruto stated, almost a little relieved that he had not killed his best friend by taking the gear.

"Show it to me," he demanded. "Prove to me your story is true and show it to me."

As if bidden, the gear appeared on his right arm without him even calling for it, the red gauntlet gaining a slight glint running across its scaled surface. The green gem at the hands center sparkled as magnificently as it did the previous night. It was almost a thing of beauty, something more meant to be an ornament than a weapon for battle. The abilities it gave the user would prove differently however.

Hayate took off his glasses fully and inspected gauntlet with keen looking eyes. "Interesting," he stated simply as he lifted Naruto's gauntlet covered hand and ran his finger across it. "Quite frankly, you're already an abnormal user right off the bat. For every other wielder the gear has appeared on their left arm. For you however, probably due to you putting it on yourself, it appears on your right arm instead of your left."

He brought his eyes closer and began to read off statistics, his monotone echoing into the air around them. "Subject: **[Boosted Gear]**. Created by the Biblical God as one of his Thirteen Longinus Class Gears. The gear was created after the soul of the Heavenly Dragon Ddraig was taken from his chopped up body and given a containment unit to access the dragon's power. It has the ability to multiply a person's overall physical, spiritual, and magical power by twofold every time the user boosts their power. The downside of said ability however is that it quickly drains the user's stamina every time they boost, leaving them completely weakened once they hit their limit. There are no requirements to use its abilities however which put it in the middle tier level strength for the Longinus classification. Overall it is a rather fearsome weapon within the right hands." He provided Naruto with a look. "Based on your own overall magic reserves you have the potential to become quite the strong wielder."

Naruto just sat there in shock. Hayate had literally recited all this stuff like he knew it off the top of his head. The creepiness was only further intensified by his glowing yellow orbs. He subconsciously felt like they were scanning him, peering into his very soul…

"Did you know you have nine other smaller souls in you? That is quite abnormal in and of itself."

At this point Naruto flinched back in shock as he stared into the young agents glowing eyes. "What the hell, man?" Naruto questioned quickly. "How do you know all of this stuff?"

The brown haired boy tapped the side of his head near his eyes. "It's my sacred gear that can be found within my eyes," he commented lightly before continuing to look at the gear. "It's a rare type gear called **[Ophthalmic Parameter]**, nicknamed [God's Information Dealer] by previous users. It was essentially designed for field generals to be able to better command sacred gear users during battle. The gear provides me with knowledge of any sacred gear I see or can gain the basic characteristics of. It also allows me to see magic levels and search for hidden gear users by looking at their souls. It's not really combat oriented so it has no use in battle like most gears but it is still very useful overall."

Naruto just sat their processing the information. "So are all sacred gear like yours and mine? Basically walking cheat codes in a video game."

Hayate looked at him and blinked. "I'm afraid I don't quite comprehend. What do you mean cheat codes? What are those?"

Naruto just stared at him. "Cheat codes. You know those little glitches or codes that give you like invincibility, unlimited ammo, or something in a game? That kind of thing."

"I'm afraid I don't quite see the comparison but if you're asking if there are sacred gears that provide invincibility or what not then no."

Naruto did not even want to know what this guy had been doing that he didn't even know one of the basic staples of gaming much too every true gamers annoyance. Seriously what was he supposed to say to such blatant lack of knowledge? If he just mocked it he would kind of feel bad but at this point almost everyone knew what this stuff was. Especially people his age knew what it was and the fact that he did not made him wonder what exactly his organization had him do that he didn't know this stuff.

Naruto only sighed. "I meant are all sacred gear like mine or yours in the sense of how powerful and or useful they are?"

Hayate looked up and blinked at him again. "No," he said as he finally let go of Naruto arm and began to scribble in his notebook. "Again, **[Boosted Gear]** is one of Thirteen Longinus, gears capable of killing gods once mastered." He ignored Naruto's incredulous look as he continued. "Mine is once again a rare type, not very common but still has a few of them in existence if dormant. There are still plenty of different gears though, each with their own different ability and use. Some are more powerful than others, of course, but some are very common as well much like the gear **[Twice Critical]**. Does that answer your question?"

Naruto however was stuck on something different. "Are you saying that this," he began while pointing to his gauntlet covered arm, "Has the ability to kill a god? I know Ddraig is powerful and all but this thing can kill a god?"

Hayate nodded. "Yes, with proper training of course, **[Boosted Gear]** can kill a god. The fact that you have it has now made you a major player in the supernatural society whether you wanted it to or not."

Naruto just rubbed his head with his covered hand. "Great…"

"So, I think I can see how you won against the fallen angel now the other night but how did you perform that magic with the sand? It can't be that you instinctively know high level transformation spells that affect large areas nor can you possibly have another sacred gear. My glasses were on previously as a courtesy because they act as way to keep my gear inactivated but now that I look at you fully, besides the irregularity of nine other smaller souls in your body, you only have one sacred gear. As of right now the only thing I can think of is that one of those souls in your body gave you the ability to perform such an act."

"_Well,"_ Naruto began thinking somewhat despairingly,_ "I guess I can't keep this secret either now can I?"_ How could he? Hayate had him dead to rights with that damned scared gear of his. How was he supposed to keep that a secret when he already basically knew it? The only thing he probably could keep to himself would be that they talk and had personalities all their own.

Sighing to himself in resignation the blonde went through the same process to call up a bond like he did yesterday. However, instead of having to dig deep into himself the blonde felt a different response occur. As if a switch went off in his head he felt a connection immediately form to Shukaku this time. Just like before he could feel his magic signature change in a manner like it had the night before. He flared his magical aura slightly so that it covered his body again like it had the night before only to feel a larger drain on his reserves as a result. _"Must be because my reserves aren't under the effect of a boost from Ddraig,"_ he thought absently as his guest looked him over.

"Remarkable," the yellow eyed boy commented as he stared at Naruto and looked over his slightly glowing form. "Not only has you magic changed color but it feels much more in tune with the magic sample I picked up from the sand. It seemingly adapts your magic signature toward a range of elements making them easier to use." He moved his eyes slightly. "I can also see a connection has been formed between the brown soul and your own."

Naruto turned to stare at the boy. "Geez that eye ability of yours is really freaky man."

His fellow teen could only look him in the eyes with a deadpanned stare. "While to you it may seem 'freaky' to me it is rather normal. And if we were to talk about eye color then I believe we may wish to start with the curious change of yours from blue to some sort of pattern I believe I've only seen in paintings." He pulled on the pocket of his coat and pulled out a small case. He opened it up and pulled out a rectangular mirror, holding it in front of his fellow teen's eyes so he could see.

"_So this is what Dohnaseek meant when he said my eyes changed colors last night,"_ thought Naruto rapidly as he stared at the foreign looking eyes he saw in his reflection. The sclera of his eye had become entirely black and void like. His pupil however took an interesting appearance. Most of it was gold in color but there was a giant black four pointed star at the center. Around the star were four small black dots arranged in the spaces between the star. Overall it looked rather intimidating.

Before he could contemplate it further another voice entered the picture though only he could hear it. _**"Hey what's going on Naruto,"**_ interjected Shukaku into the situation. _**"I thought you weren't going to talk to us till tonight and now you're using my abilities again? You didn't even ask this time."**_ Naruto could almost feel the being pout over the bond. He quickly got over it though. _**"So who are we fighting, huh? Please tell me it's the freaky kid with the glowing eyes that keeps staring at you all creepy like. That guy looks like he needs a good punch in the face…"**_

The blonde groaned and palmed his face in annoyance as he listened to the mad beings equally maddened ramblings while he felt the stare of the person sitting next to him turn quizzical. _"Shukaku…"_ he tried only to be ignored. _"Shukaku…"_ he tried again only to receive the same result. _"SHUKAKU,"_ he shouted, managing to get the voice to stop. _"We are going to talk later but for now just go back to what you were doing before. I need to show some one something and to do it I needed to use your power. I'm sorry."_

The being was silent for a while before it let out a small whine. _**"Oh man,"**_ it cried in annoyance. _**"Fine. I'll go back to what I was doing before but we better talk tonight. Later Naruto."**_

The spiky haired teen sighed in relief and looked back toward Hayate. "Sorry about that," he said tiredly, the familiar fatigue he head from this morning creeping into his voice. "When I use this ability I form a connection that allows the souls to talk with me and the soul I'm currently connected with is one that has the tendency to act like a raving lunatic from time to time."

Instead the brown haired boy just leaned back into the bench. "I should have suspected as much. That also explains your case of schizophrenia and the voices you hear in your head from childhood."

Naruto didn't even bother getting surprised this time. "You must be fun at parties if you can literally pull someone's medical information out of your ass," the blonde simply stated, almost bored. "Or, let me guess, is the ability to pull up a person's private documents just one of the leeway things your agency gets."

"The latter," replied Hayate simply. "I'm sure you understand."

"Totally." The simple statement had come out rather dry and meant to underline how not okay he was with it but went ignored by the agent. "So can I turn this off now or do I need to keep showcasing it to you?"

"Yes you may shut your ability off; I've seen all I need." The blonde allowed his connection to Shukaku to slip and felt his magic return to normal. He hoped his eyes had too and if they hadn't the agent didn't bother to comment.

"So are you done with your questions and can I start asking mine?"

Hayate pulled out a cloth from his pants pocket and rubbed his glasses. "I'm sorry but I have one more thing I need to ask before you can have your answers," he said lightly and brought up the glasses to his face. He inspected them before turning them around and placing them back in front of his eyes, allowing the glow to once again disappear. "Do you know why the fallen angel, Dohnaseek I believe you said his name was, turned to ash?"

Naruto remembered the words clearly. "He talked about a coup to overthrow some guy named Azazel," Naruto commented bitterly. "Said they were collecting gear to help their coup succeed under the orders of some guy he didn't name. Psychopath also mentioned being sad about not being able to see the war and then as he started to burn mentioned that his employer added a failsafe if he lost. That failsafe apparently required him to burn."

"Someone within Grigori is planning to overthrow Azazel," Hayate mused as he finished taking notes. "It appears the situation might become worse than we feared if this is where we're heading. I'll need to inform the director of this when I return to command." He turned to Naruto and nodded his head fully. "This information is sufficient."

"Good because I have some questions of my own that need answering! What the hell is going on in this town? Fallen angels running around stealing weapons from people's souls! Weapons having the ability to slay a god and that the supposed Biblical God made them in the first place! And if the big guy upstairs is real, as are fallen angels, I can only assume that regular angels and devils are real, especially since Ddraig mentioned the former lived in the area! What the heck is going on?"

Hayate, for what felt like the hundredth time that day, sighed as he sat up straight and turned his whole body towards his inquirer. His eyes had become stern and his posture gave no sign of weakness. "Naruto Tachibana, the world you have found yourself dragged into is not for the faint of heart. While on the surface it may seem like it's kinder than it appears, in reality the supernatural world will provide you with surprises at every turn. You may not like what you hear but now that you know, whether you want to or not, there is absolutely no going back to your previous life. Try as you like, from now on you will no longer see the world through the rose colored glasses that normal individuals do. You have peered beyond the illusion and seen only a small portion of the truth of the world. Allow me to inform you something about the truth as well.

"The truth is not always what we want it to be."

(Life End)

* * *

(Preview)

The saying "the truth will set you free" is a lie. With eyes opened you stare out at the world and see what lurked hidden. You might just wish that you had left the blindfold on.

Next Life: Awareness

What will you do with this clarity young dragon?

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**Authors Note:**

**Thanks for reading another chapter of Dragon of a Different Kind, which is now my most successful story to date in its rapidly growing popularity (though that is probably because they are two rather popular stories to do a crossover). Thanks to everyone who subscribes, favorites, and reads the story as a whole. I appreciate the support I get on my journey to becoming a better writer as a whole and am happy to have you guys along for the ride!**

**With that in mind, here are some thoughts on this chapter to answer any questions you may have.**

**Sona and Rias: I hope you like how I portrayed both of them as well as Akeno, Tsubaki, and Saji. This chapter took so long because I was actually trying to keep them in how their character would act in this situation. They are all important character to the series and, thus in my opinion, have to be handled with care to make sure everything stays right. To do that I heavily used the official High School DXD wiki as well as went back several chapters in the story to reread certain scenes that would allow me to figure out the best way to get the characters to act. I'm not honestly completely satisfied with how I portrayed them and hope to do more accurate portrayals as I go on so for now I hope this is acceptable.**

**Hayate Fujihara: Yes, this is my first OC that I've done outside my New Devil Story. I hope you at least found him a little interesting despite how bland he seemed to be. I've been working on my OC development for a while with this story and actually managed to write extensive profiles for each OC that will be in the story. With that said he will be a recurring character so you will see more of him as well as his backstory and how he develops as time moves on.**

**Ophthalmic Parameter: Yes, this is an original sacred gear (trust me I know I searched both the High School DXD crossover section and the just the High School DXD section of the website. It's all original). This is my first gear and one of the several that I have created for the purposes of this story. It's a non-combat based gear that leans more towards support type and information gathering practices. It may seem a little cheap but quite frankly every sacred gear is a bit cheap and it only provides information. It does not help him in combat at all so no OP Gary Stu power up. Just saying.**

**The Auditorium Scene: Now to be fair I tried my best here. Naruto is still obviously sore about Issei as he should be. Keep in mind why the other people in the audience act this way. Issei is a pervert in every sense of the word. Most females in the school would say he and his pals have terrorized them on one occasion or another. Even if he died he would get no sympathy. In fact most of the women he peeped on would probably call it karma in the strongest sense and would not see the obvious point in it. I know because humans can be cruel and when I was in high school I saw it happen a couple of times. With that said, Naruto clocks her because she forgets that not everyone feels the same as her. I hope you somewhat enjoyed the scene.**

**And now overall story notes.**

**Arc: We are currently in the "Truth Arc." Next up is the arc with all original content called the "ODD Arc" which will begin the chapter after next. Look for it because it's going to be really exciting!**

**Beta: If you didn't read it above I got myself a beta and this is his first chapter on board so say thanks to The Flippant Writer for his hard work. He will be staying the course with me and let me bounce ideas off him as well as help me correct spelling, grammar, and possible continuity errors because I really don't want to screw up the narrative especially when the light novel can be a pain to the uninitiated. So please thank him for all his work and check out some of his own great short stories on his page.**

**Harem: Once again this will continue to be a secret though this chapter should have heavily implied one or two people who might be in it… and if you suggest Hayate go feed yourself to a Yaoi fangirl. Seriously I support equal rights for all but I don't want to read about a character I grew up with since childhood getting it on with another dude. There is just so much you can change a character and his sexuality is just not something you should touch… unless your gender bending but thats a whole different rodeo.**

**Reviewing and Commenting: Once again I encourage you to leave a review. If you feel like there is something I could do better please point it out so I can improve or if you just like the story feel free to leave a comment. Your reviews and comments help me want to improve and do better for this fic. I was really encouraged the other day because before I write I sit down and read each new review to look for people to tell me what they liked and what they didn't and I've gotten some good constructive criticism so far that has really helped. So please don't think your reviews don't matter because they do. They inspire me to write and they help a lot in the overall development process. So please feel free to leave a review if you have something you want to say or if you have a question feel free to PM. I can't promise I'll answer right away but you will get an answer.**

**Once again thanks for supporting the story. The next chapter will hopefully be out in a week or two so look for it in your inbox or in the crossover section.**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy!**


	5. Life 5: Awareness

**So it's kind of been a while hasn't it? Life has been crazy this past year and I've experienced a lot of different changes in my life. Some of them have been very good for me and others… well others haven't been. But I think that I've finally re-found my muse. Let's just hope I can still live up to the hype that this story once had. After months of reediting and going over what I've wanted to do with this story I finally came up with a clear vision that I'm going to follow. Thanks for staying with it if your still here and if you're not well I can't exactly blame you. **

**I would go over and re-read at least chapters 3 and 4 because there have been some edits there mostly to combat but some tweaks in the dialogue as well. Most of it is to the fight sequences and showy stuff due to the change of the poll I took… many months ago. This chapter was also supposed to be a lot longer too but I decided I wanted to get myself out there again so I would save the ending of this arc for next chapter. With all that said DarkNaruto101 is back baby and it's time to roll on with Dragon of a Different Kind!**

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Life 5: Awareness

He was used to waiting calmly when he had to. His parents in fact thought that it was one of the many good things about the child they had raised; that he could be patient, polite, and rather calm when it came to many different areas. He was good a good student and while not the fastest learner after a bit of practice in a subject he could still come out on top of the rest of his class. If he had actually done sports he could have been one of those supposed perfect guys that girls read about in those shoujo manga he had seen some of his female classmates read.

Naruto snorted to himself lightly. No if anyone fit that bill of perfect guy it would have been the "Prince of Kuoh Academy" Yuuto Kiba. While his grades weren't Naruto's he still managed to score very high usually. He also did not participate in sports but he still did exceptionally well in gym class and proved he could have easily done them if he had tried. Not even the fact that he had been in a club that essentially studied the supernatural was considered off putting by anyone… though that might have more to do with the rest of the people in it then what they did if anything.

No. To most of the girls at school none of that had mattered. Apparently he could do no wrong as the teenage heartthrob or something. Apparently girls were suckers for guys with boyish good looks and very polite attitudes. Who knew?

Naruto could have not done what Yuuto did, especially when he was younger. When he was young he was constantly full of energy and no one could get him to calm down whatsoever. He, Issei, and Irina used to have so much fun to the point the two could barely keep up with him he was so jumpy. He was so hyper that his parents even had trouble getting him to sit still at times. He had always needed to be doing something and a lot of it was not the studying his parents had wanted. Not at first.

That all changed after he had been diagnosed with an acute form of Schizophrenia and started taking medication prescribed for it. From there he had begun to slow down a bit and lost most of that excess energy he had been keeping inside. Eventually after a while he was almost what most would qualify as a normal kid… though his mother did mention he was always a little too stubborn and a little moody. The moodiness had been a side effect of the medication but it had eventually gone away.

It sucked to him at first. He remembered being annoyed as a kid because his once boundless amount of energy had gone away and his parents had made him sit and study. It had never been his forte as a kid but instead of just telling him to do it his parents had taken time out of their schedules and helped him. They helped him come up with creative ways to do it and even attempted to make it fun for him though it never really worked as planned.

With two of his major problems as a kid he felt like he could handle anything. He was calm and was learning easier. He learned that he could manage his problems and could handle them easily…

Until tonight it seemed.

For the first time in a while he was antsy. Normally he would have just accounted it toward his whole nervousness over the talk he is supposed to be having the voices in his head tonight. That might have sounded weird to anyone else but it was the truth. Of course he would be nervous. He was, after all, about to meet a group that had caused him a major amount of stress in his life. Suffice to say he just wanted to get to the bottom of what had been going on to meet anyone like that would probably make someone antsy too.

Another reason for his level of anxiousness could also happen to be that his friend had died the day before and now the rest of the world fundamentally knew about it. As soon as he had gotten home from the park he had found both his mother and father at waiting for him. His mother had tears in her eyes while his father had just looked at him with a saddened expression.

It was only after his mother had come up and hugged him that he realized that his mother was crying in worry for him while his father had just come and pat him on the back. Apparently they had to hear about what happened from Issei's parents. Issei had only lived about a block away from him so it wasn't that far a stretch that they had found out.

His parents had also apparently received word from the school about what occurred at the ceremony. Apparently hitting a girl in the face and then cutting the rest of the school day while walking out in the middle of a school assembly was call for about a month's suspension with school work being set home every week for him to complete… not that he could really blame them for doing that though he did think that the punishment was a little excessive himself. And despite the fact that these things would drive any normal parent crazy they were not mad at him for doing what he did. They didn't care wither it was right or wrong; they just wanted to make sure he was okay.

But even the death of his friend, something that had been at the forefront of his mind since it had happened last night was not the reason for his discomfort. His problems were not an issue of sadness at the moment as much as it was just feeling like he had so much energy flowing through him at the moment… he felt like he was a kid again, like he would be bouncing off the walls at any second if he could get away with it. The previous levels of energy he had as a child had returned to him and he did not know what to do about it nor how to handle it.

A side effect of his medication was to literally make him more lethargic. To the average person it would typically make them more tired. For him, however, it only returned made him have the same amount of vigor someone his age had. There had been nothing wrong with that either. Issei could finally keep up with him when they had hung out then and they got tired together too. If anything it had been a somewhat welcome change.

But now, to a mind who had not been used to it in such a while, it was almost agonizing. He instinctively began to tap his foot against the ground in annoyance. He needed something to do while he was waiting. Something to help calm him down…

He needed something to focus on and he decided to make that focus the card in his hand. It was a simple business card and unlike how others tried to dress their cards in bright, eye-catching colors this one was just a plain white with only two different sets of information on it. The first piece was the name of the teen he had meet today. Hayate Fujihara's name was written in plain bold letters running across the white strip. Below it was his personal phone number. A phone number he was supposed to call when he had made a choice.

Choice. It was a rather simple concept to a fault. It stood as one's ability to pick their own path, follow their own story like one of those choose your own adventure books. It was supposed to be the options you could pick in any given situation and live your life the way you wanted. His parents had brought him up on the idea that he always had a choice too.

What everyone seemed to forget about choices though is that there was always a positive and negative reaction to the action taken. The choices a person made not only affected their own path but the paths of other people as well wither they knew it or not. It was like if one man decided not to do his work at the office one day. He made his own choice in how to spend his time and that was fine. However he had forced a new set of choices and possibilities onto another group of people, those who relied on him to get his work done, and now they were not exactly favorable choices for any party involved.

The choice he would be forced to make was no different. On one hand he could strike out on his own. He could try and figure out his new abilities by himself. He would not be bound to the rules of others and he could make his own story as he went along. It might be hard to find allies or people to assist him in his ideals but he would still be able to maintain a semblance of autonomy.

On the other hand he could go with the other option. He could become…

"… _An agent of your organization," Naruto questioned as he sat back against the bench. Today had just been one blow after another for him. Of course he had wanted to know what kind of world he had found himself in but this… this was just bad news on so many different levels he could barely count them. Apparently he had found himself in a new world where everyone in the supernatural was freaking nuts._

"_Yes," replied the glasses wearing teen in stride, staring blankly into his notebook and jotting things down rather neatly with his pen. "I believe that someone like you would make a very good agent."_

"_We just met not even thirty minutes ago," cried the exasperated blonde. "How would you know I would fit in with this super-secret occult super sentai type club?"_

_Hayate stopped writing in his notebook and turned his head to look at his whiskered companion, a thin eyebrow raised. His stare made Naruto feel like he was being looked at as if he was stupid. "Did you just compare an organization of trained agent's to a children's TV show?" Seeing the blond suddenly scratch his cheek in embarrassment the agent sighed. "You do realize that I've read your file right? It has grades, personality profile, general habits, physical body proportions including height, weight, genital siz…"_

"_OKAY," Naruto shouted while slapping his hand quickly over Hayate's mouth. "Have you guys ever heard of privacy? How do you know all of this stuff? If you guys are a government group then doesn't that mean you guys have limits to what you can do or something."_

_The brown haired boy removed Naruto's hand from his face. "I said we were formed by the United Nations," he said with a frown marring his features. "As for how we got the information… well that's classified unless you join."_

_Naruto wrapped his arms around himself and began to grumble. "Of course it's classified," he grit out in annoyance before continuing. "Besides even if you know that you still even answered why you believe I could join up. What makes you think your organization will even accept me? I'm just some guy who just found out he can use magic and has gauntlet that is pretty rare."_

_Hayate reached down to a pocket in his coat and pulled out a white cloth. "You're really underestimating the ability of _**[Boosted Gear]**_," remarked the brown haired boy candidly as he took off his glasses and proceeded to clean them, eyes lidded during the process. "Imagine if you will it being in the hands of someone who, much like yourself, is determined. That gauntlet has the ability to, as I'm sure you're already aware, square the magical power and physical ability a wielder every ten seconds. It does this until the user is left with little to no stamina to continue boosting."_

_The brown haired boy finished cleaning lenses and placed the cloth back in his pocket and proceeded to return his glasses toward their proper position. "Now imagine," he began again, "that a person with incredible physical endurance comes along and manages to receive the ability of the Red Dragon Emperor; they gain the ability to square their own power. What do you think happens Tachibana?"_

"_They get a lot stronger," replied the blonde instantly, failing to see where his fellow teen was going._

_The short haired boy shook his head. "Yes but your underestimating the value it seems." He turned his gaze straight toward Naruto, his yellow orbs staring directly into his own blue. "When the organization was first looking at you we found you to be a very good prospect to join up. However, now that the legendary abilities of the Red Dragon Emperor are in your possession your potential strength has shot through the roof and in all honesty I myself am not sure where it falls now. The only thing I can surely say is that with enough training and practice you have the potential to be one of the strongest humans in recorded history. That in itself is not something anyone can say."_

_The blonde was stunned and looked at his hands. He had the potential to be that strong? It seemed too good to be true…_

_The blonde paused for a moment and looked at his contact. "Wait a second, you said that Ddraig and _**[Boosted Gear]**_ gave their users the ability to kill god's right? Then how many have the previous users of this thing killed?"_

"… _to date no user of the _**[Boosted Gear]**_ has killed a god," Hayate finally answered flatly._

_The whiskered teen looked at him with growing annoyance. "Then how do you know this thing has the potential to kill a damned god?"_

"_Because Longinus gears are special even amongst sacred gears. Outside the fact that only one of each of them exists they do the impossible: they combine aspects of abilities that should for all intents and purposes be impossible to perform. As a result each gear of the Longinus class have theoretically enough power and bizarreness to their abilities that the slaying of a deity should be possible. The only reasons most Longinus class gear users have never killed gods before though is mostly due to…"_

"_Wait," the blonde stopped Hayate from continuing, his gaze deadpanned. "Don't tell me. The others got arrogant and or power drunk because some moron told them their gear had the ability to kill a god thus they decided to forgo training and got themselves killed by gods and other beings for even trying without forethought."_

"… _That's actually the basic gist of what we've actually managed to get on record from various sources. Were the reports wrong in suggesting you had no previous involvement with the supernatural?"_

"_Just a lucky guess," Naruto replied whist rolling his eyes. "So in other words it doesn't give someone the ability to kill a god right away and you got to work for your strength still lest someone end up like previous idiots going into battle. Got it. You still haven't answered why you think I would be good despite all of this stuff. Just having the gauntlet and magical ability can't make you a good candidate can it?"_

_Hayate regarded him with his cool gaze. "While these things are useful and your personality profile fits closely with what we look for in an agent that isn't what makes me think you'd be a good match." The agent leaned even further back against the bench in a more relaxed position and, for the first time since Naruto had met him, almost could make out a look of melancholy under his still stern visage. "An important person to me once told me something that he believed made a great agent. I think if he ever met you he would see that description fit you perfectly."_

"_What did he say?"_

"'_A good agent doesn't need to be incredibly skilled or the smartest person in the world. A good agent is just someone who has…'" _

"'… the desire to protect those closest to them… and those people that they'll never meet,'" repeated the blonde as he remembered the words of his fellow human.

Looking at it now Hayate gave him a choice about what he could do but in the end he still felt trapped in a way. He told him what he had today because the brown hair boy was deliberately gambling on this value that he believed had defined his being. He decided he didn't like his fellow teen at that moment but in all honesty was the brown hair agent right?

When he had thought about it at first he couldn't see what the brown hair boy meant. Sure he wanted to protect his family and friends but would he really try to martyr himself to protect strangers, people whom he's never met and never will? If he were to ask himself seriously he would probably not know himself.

"_**It is almost surprising for me to hear you say that,"**_ rang out the voice he identified as harsh and cruel sounding, guttural almost if he was really trying to define it. _**"In all honesty if I didn't know any better I would have said that this was all one big trick. Then again I guess you are different a different person."**_ The voice paused for a moment almost in thought. _**"… Definitely smarter than before that is for sure."**_

At that moment Naruto was unsure if he should feel insulted or just plain annoyed. This thing was calling him dumb? Okay as a kid he could maybe have admitted to being dumb but he worked hard to get where he was and to get his grades. He was certainly note some genius that was just born and absorbed information! He studied like every day when he was younger because his mom made him and after a while it just felt natural, that was all.

"_Oh yeah well go fuck yourself,"_ Naruto shouted within his thoughts before groaning lightly. If his mother heard his mouth now she would have washed it out with soap. He had learned that lesson as a kid and was not keen on learning it again.

The voice just chuckled. _**"Well don't I stand corrected,"**_ the voice mused. _**"It seems that maybe you still do have a chance at having that spark."**_Before Naruto could ask he felt his eyes grow heavy and his mind slow down slightly. _**"Relax,"**_ the voice soothed in a whisper. _**"You'll be able to ask your questions soon enough."**_

Naruto would have responded but his body seemed to relax on its own, sliding along the bed as his back ran against the head board of his bed. He could minutely hear the long soft screech of his downward shift on the bed and his head felt dizzy. The room begin to spin almost as his head finally hit his pillow. The colors seemed to swirl before everything went black.

And then new colors, new feelings began to enter his vision. The surface above him was pure white, like he was staring at something that he was unsure about how it ended. It was like he was staring into a void… but it was white, the polar opposite of what a void is supposed to be. Voids were the absent of light period because light was sucked in and unable to escape in a void. Here though…

"**Are you done staring at the white ceiling and pondering the meaning of life or whatever it is you humans do,"** asked a voice from the side snootily.

It was in that moment when Naruto looked at the side that he almost flinched in shock. He was staring at a giant orange paw… hand… whatever it was. It was covered in deep orange fur that went all along its arm going up. What was scary though was that the paw was big enough to crush him and then some if it wanted to. In all honesty it made him dread looking upwards, knowing that the creature that was sitting in the upright position probably would tower over him. He ended up looking upwards anyway.

Looking down at him was the face of a giant fox with deep red silted eyes the size of an average person. Its face, like the rest of its body, was covered in dark orange fur. Around its eyes and going into its ears were black fur giving the features and interesting contrast. Over all he would look incredibly menacing if he didn't have…

"…Bunny ears," Naruto absent mindedly commented aloud.

The room was completely silent for a minute but the young blonde was sure he saw a twitch enter the eyes of the giant creature. Suddenly it brought its paw up and smashed it into the ground, sending Naruto flying into the air. Naruto would have screamed had he not been captured within the creature's free paw almost painfully and lifted him until his entire face was level with the pupil of its bloodshot right eye.

"**Did you just say my ears were those of an infernal rabbit's,"** shouted the creature, with Naruto recognizing it as the deep guttural and harsh sounding voice… though this time it seemed to be taking a more comedic approach to dealing with him instead.

In that moment, instead of feeling the fear most rational people would have told him too he felt rather emboldened and instead continued to run his mouth. "You heard me or are those giant ears of your just for show," Naruto shouted in return while staring the beast in the eye. "I mean I would hope with those giant floppy things would actually be able to hear something but apparently that was an assumption on my part. My bad. Let me speak up for you." Naruto took as deep a breath as he could in beast's grip before yelling "YOUR EARS LOOK LIKE THEY BELONG ON A RABBIT!"

Before the fox could retort laughter of all kinds echoed throughout the room as the fox glared at something from the corner of its eye. Naruto though was able to recognize them as the voices that had been speaking to him over the many years. He could also actually make out the laughter of Ddraig in mixed in as well, signifying that the dragon was here as well.

One obvious laugh stood out though as the voice of the one who had taken the form of the spear**. "Ha, he's got your number now doesn't he you damned fox,"** shouted the voice of Shukaku rich with mirth. He could almost feel a pair of eyes set on him. **"Nice one Naruto!"**

"**Well if you like it why don't you hold Naruto then,"** the fox beast shouted as it reared the arm that held Naruto back and caused said boy to groan in realization about what he was going to be happening to him. He was right as he was sent forward in a throwing motion and sent toward the rapidly approaching face of what looked to be a sand covered raccoon head with golden eyes with a crossed pupil, much like what his eyes had looked like when he used the being's powers. When he was smacked into its forehead, unfortunately, it was nowhere near as soft as sand.

He impacted with a quick and painful groan while apparently the sandy raccoon creature was sent reeling backwards slightly in pain. He was about to slide downward but luckily one of the creatures paws caught him beforehand and held him up to towards its face. The creature had a mischievous look in its golden stared eyes as a grin worked its way onto his maw.

"**Heya Naruto,"** the raccoon-no that wasn't the right word to describe Shukaku's form-said happily. **"Ignore the fox, he's just a pain in the ass anyway."** The raccoon… Tanuki maybe… brought him closer to its mouth and tried to whisper. **"It think he's just jealous that we kicked ass last night and he didn't. He's a sore loser like that."**

"**I can hear you, you blasted Tanuki,"** shouted back the orange furred fox with a roar, causing Naruto to turn slightly and see it sending a heavy glare toward the person currently holding him. **"Besides of course he would need the weakest of us. If he had used someone like me it would have ended up being too easy a fight."**

N aruto felt Shukaku's palm tremble in rage as he roared. **"You want to go Kurama,"** returned the Tanuki before gaining a slightly more playful tone. **"I mean could someone with rabbit ears really put up that much of a fight?"**

The newly named Kurama roared at Shukaku as it began to march toward them. Naruto honestly thought the two creatures were going to actually go to blows. Just watching this minor interaction between the two of them told him that they fought a lot in of itself. He could see it clear as day too with the way the insulted one another though he could not tell if it was just playful infighting or actual hatred.

He would continue to be unable to decide wither or not that was the case as a powerful stream of orange fire passed through the open space, stopping Kurama from even coming close to Shukaku. It was so powerful that Naruto could feel the intense heat and thought he would break out in a sweat as a result of it.

**[Enough,] **boomed the familiar voice of the Ddraig from the side, causing Naruto to look back and see something he had only seen in story books as a kid. He had been informed that Ddraig was an ancient dragon but seeing it was really believing. He was around the same size as Kurama and Shukaku, but his towering scaled form was a touch more menacing than that of the monster fox and Tanuki. If anything he could liken the two to giant plush toys in comparison. His most predominate feature had to be the almost crimson red scales covering his body in the two glowing green orbs he called eyes. For a lesser being it would have been an intimidating site.

"**You want a go too you big old pile of scales,"** returned the Tanuki, turning his body, as well as Naruto, from his previous target. "**You think you're so high and mighty right because you got the power to double your strength? Please, you wouldn't stand a chance where we come from! The humans there would have laughed at you… or sealed your scaled ass like they did the rest of us!"**

Naruto saw the dragon glower at him. **[Says the Tanuki with barely any strength of his own right now!] **The blonde could not help but sweat drop at the sight of three towering beings arguing with each other like children. It was kind of pathetic when he thought about it.

He could not help but frown to himself. Most people would be scared of any similar situation to him right now. Instead, he was treating it as if it were a normal occurrence to him. It could not have been because he was just used to their voices in his head. He was most certainly used to that but he had no idea what they had looked like before now. It should have shocked him or even scared him, even if they were acting kind of silly.

Something just was not right about this at all. If he had to put a feeling to it then he would describe it as familiar, nostalgic even.

"**Hey guys stop fighting,"** cried a timid voice from behind them. **"I thought we agreed that you would stay calm when we revealed ourselves to Naruto!"**

Naruto turned himself on Shukaku's hand to notice the other six creatures within the room he had apparently missed. They themselves were oddities much like the three he had just been acquainted with.

To right side of Shukaku was a cat like creature. What strange about it was that it was covered in blue fire. With its Heterochromia eyes, one being yellow and the other being green, it stared at him with a form of amusement if it's almost fanged smile meant anything. Swinging behind it were two long blue tails, thick with a roaring flame.

Next to the flaming cat was a large turtle like creature. It was turtle like because it was actually an amalgam of different creatures. It resembled a large turtle, but with a crab-like shell, spikes all over its body, and three shrimp-like tails. Under its shell and around its red colored eye, it also had red, muscle-like tissue visibly seen. It has a pair of human-like arms and hands, but no hind-legs. Its lower jaw is rather big and has teeth-like horns, together with its big forehead, which also has horns, it somewhat resembles a mouth with big teeth, making it look like the rest of the face is inside the mouth. Its crimson eyes stared at him with nearly hidden nervousness.

On the right of the turtle happened to be a red-furred and green-skinned monkey, with a body-build of a gorilla. It has eyes with yellow irises and white pupils, spike-like protrusions along the length of its tails, elongated blunt fangs, and two long horns curving upwards on its forehead like a crown with both being tipped black. Looking at the creature the blonde honestly thought it looked bored almost.

To the great ape's right was another strange beast. It primarily resembled a white horse with the head of a dolphin. It had two pointed long horns and three shorter horns in front. The ends of its horns, hooves, and five large tails were light brown. It also had red markings under its dark blue-green eyes. The beast was rather still, staring right at him as though it was judging him.

Next the dolphin-horse was a large white slug with a slightly blue tint to it. It had stubby little arms and stubby little legs as well. It also had two prominent optical tentacles for eyes and hole-like openings as a mouth. Its entire body seemed to be covered in a slimy substance. It was currently using its six long tails as something to lean back on while sitting down.

Close by was a blue, armored rhinoceros beetle with the shell around its wings currently enclosing them and a green tail protruding from its thorax. Its eyes seem to be covered by a helmet-like skull with a two sectioned horn. An orange light shone through the visor where its eyes were. Around the open part of the helmet it had two pincers on its face, usually covering a mouth full of sharp teeth. It also has spike protrusions on its shoulders and a row of slits on each shoulder with three blue armored legs on each side.

And finally at the giant fox's left seemed to be a creature that should have been impossible to miss. It was a giant Ushi-Oni, creatures typically with depicted with bovine heads. This one was rather interesting considering that it was essentially a combination between what looked like a bull and an octopus. It had eight cephalopod like tentacles for legs connected to a hunched over muscular body. It had long muscular arms with large hands as well. Its head had were four horns, with all of the horns being broken in various areas. It was looking at him with a grin on its face.

The giant ape burst out into a fit of laughter, his gruff sounding voice echoing throughout the chamber. **"I don't think those two know how not to fight in the first place,"** he commented. **"Add that prideful dragon to the mix and they make quite the threesome!"**

"**Oh shut up you good for nothing ape,"** returned the fox monster as it turned its attention away from Ddraig and turned away from looking at everyone else.** "If I remember as such pride seems to be one of your major flaws as well so you have no right to talk!"** Said ape growled and looked like it too was about to jump into the argument.

"**Can everyone just chill please,"** chirped the giant beetle from his portion of the room, its voice seemingly airily and friendly toned. It managed to stop everyone from going at it again so that was a plus in Naruto's book. **"It's the first time we've actually seen Naruto in a while and it wouldn't be lucky if he began to think of us as troublesome, you know."**

"**I must agree,"** commented the flaming cat currently sitting on its haunches, voice echoing throughout the chamber and reminding of the blonde of the sensuous voice that spoke to him on occasion. **"Surely we do not wish to make Naruto think less of us and you're in fighting isn't going to help." **She turned her head to the side and looked the young blonde. **"I apologize for the squabbles of my siblings. It has just been some time since we've actually had company with us. Outside of the dragon that forced himself on you it has been some time since we've had guests in here. I'm sure you understand."**

**[Oi, who forced himself on who,]** snarled the red welsh as it glared heatedly at the flaming cat. **[Listen you! I'm the Red Dragon Emperor and one of the stronger beings in existence! The blonde is lucky to have someone as awesome as me!]**

Naruto would have commented had the monster fox not snorted. **"Oh really,"** it commented dryly, a hint of sarcasm in its voice and a grin working its way onto the beasts maw. **"If you're so strong then how did you get sealed huh?"**

The Ushi-Oni next to the fox slapped it on the back of the head with one of its huge muscular arms. **"Oh don't start with him,"** it commented while glaring down at its nine tailed counterpart. **"The rest of us were as strong as he was raw power wise at one point and look what happened to us. We've not only been sealed but we've been weakened as well now."** It sighed to itself. **"It seems to me like we keep hitting low after low at this point."**

The blonde had no idea what they were talking about but he wasn't about to ask either. Instead he decided to try and change the subject. "Hey everyone," he began, catching the attention of everyone in the room as they stared at him. He shifted his foot slightly nervously within Shukaku's palm. "Look, don't mind me but I'm kind of clueless over here… like about everything. If one of you could start helping me make sense of this stuff that would really help."

The nine beasts with varying tail amounts and one dragon looked at each other before looking back at him. The dragon then seemingly decided to voice his thoughts. **[I must apologize for this partner,]** he said somewhat sincerely**. [I am not used to having to share a host with… well anything else. Dealing with other beings on the level of a partnership outside of dealing with my regular sacred gear users is new to me.]**

Naruto mused over the dragon's words to himself. If he really was that isolated could he honestly blame the dragon for having a little more trouble with this? Probably not… though that did not mean he couldn't have tried to be a little more mature about it but who was he to judge.

Nodding to himself he waved off the dragon's apology. "Its fine Ddraig," Naruto assured him with a small placating notion. "Don't worry about it. I understand." He then looked at the other occupants in the room and with the sudden seriousness of it all he remembered why he was really here. "Before we get to anything else I would like the rest of you to introduce yourselves to me so we can talk on a better level. Right now I only know the name of Shukaku, the one whose hand I happen to be sitting on. I would like to know the rest of your names if at all possible." The other beasts looked at each other slightly, almost as though they were having a silent conversation between one another.

It was finally the flaming feline who came forth first. **"Greetings,"** she said rather politely. **"I am called Matatabi. I also hold the title of the Two-Tails."**

After her the turtle creature came next. He seemed rather nervous if his one open eye searching around the room from side to side meant anything. His lone eye finally fell on Naruto again and the beast jaw raised slightly in what the blonde guessed was its attempt at a smile. **"Hi Naruto,"** he greeted childishly, telling Naruto that he was the one who had pleaded with him kindly several times before. **"My name is Isobu and they call me the Three Tails."**

Unlike his comrades, when the ape spoke next he was anything but kind. **"Listen up kid cause I'm only going to repeat my name once so pay attention,"** the giant ape began bombastically as it did a little pose with its arms. He began throwing his arms around into varying levels of ridiculous positions in an attempt to look cool. **"I am the Handsome Monkey King of the Water Screen Cave; the King of the Sage Monkeys, bestowed with the Dharma name of Son by the Sage of the Six Paths himself. I am Son Gokū, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven hoohoohooooo!"**

The blonde could not help but sweat drop as the monkey began laughing to itself cheerfully while the dolphin horse next to it palmed its hoof to its face and looked at Naruto in the eyes. **"Please ignore this idiot next to me,"** he said politely while ignoring the sounds of its sibling's indignation. **"My name is Kokuō and, as you can see with my appearance, I am a dolphin horse with five tails. It is a pleasure I'm sure."**

The slug like creature came next, his ocular tubes suddenly gaining an excited glint. **"Nice to see you again,"** the best spoke, the holes where its mouth should be moving slightly. **"The name is Saiken and I am the Six Tails! Let's get along okay?"**

The giant beetle, when its turn arrived, also seemed to be in an excellent mood. It opened up its back shell in which six wings spread out as they began to quickly flap in the air. It began to hover a bit before moving up in the air with twists and turns galore. Trails of yellow dust flew behind its green wings as it flew over Naruto's head and further up toward the ceiling.

Naruto could not help but be confused. "Since when does introducing yourself involve flying up into the air and doing tricks?"

He saw the golden eye next to him regard him for a moment before taking on what looked like an almost amused look. **"Just wait for it,"** the taunki commented almost happily.

Finally the beetle seemed to dance in the air while spelling out something with its dust. Naruto read it aloud as the beast wrote in the air. "Introducing the super fantastic beetle who holds the title of 'Lucky Number Seven', Chōmei!'" After finishing reading it, he looked to see the newly named Chomei hovering above him and Shukaku, as though he was waiting for his approval. The blonde could not help but chuckle and shake his head in the situation. "It's nice to meet you too Chomei," he said finally as the beast with seven tails accepted it as praise and happily moved back to its original spot on the ground. Naruto then turned to the Ushi-Oni and looked at him with a raised brow. "So that's two who have given me a real show stopper. Are you going to break out into some song and dance or something?"

The beast just stared at him before sighing. **"If B had actually rubbed off on me as much as he thought then maybe but no, just no,"** it denied. **"Quite frankly I don't even know how Son and ****Chōmei**** got so eccentric in the first place. Personally I blame him,"** he said while point to the fox next to him, earning a glare from the beast.

"**How is it my fault that those two nitwits are so inane,"** he growled in annoyance from his spot.

"**Because of you and your superiority complex of course,"** shot back the octopus like creature.

"**Please they were like that when we were but babes as well,"** it returned with equal intensity**. "They were always asinine. I refuse to take the blame for this!"**

"**Whatever,"** the Ushi-Oni snorted before returning its gaze to the blonde and forming a small smile on its giant lips**. "I'm Gyūki and I go by the eight tails formally."** He then nudged the fox next to him lightly. **"Your next."** The fox did not move and this apparently irritated him greatly. **"Listen here you massive sack of fur. Get your butt up now and introduce yourself to him."**

The fox glared right back at its eight tailed colleague before sighing, resigning itself to its fate as it stared at the whiskered teen. To Naruto he felt as though there was something in the fox's eyes. At first, staring into the baleful looking red orbs it looked almost as though it was meant to be there. When he looked closer there he saw sadness, maybe even a hint of regret for something that had happened.

Why was it sad when it looked at him? Did it regret not telling him the truth; did it regret making him think he was crazy? Thinking about it he was unsure really nor did he not know how to address the fox's sadness. Whatever happened, though, he would probably find out sooner or later.

Suddenly the sorrow that had been there quickly disappeared behind eyes that gained mirth to them rather quickly. A grin quickly worked its way to the beings face and quite frankly, if it weren't for a small buzzing in the back of his mind telling him otherwise, he would have thought that it was pure evil or something. It looked like the grin you would see on like a sentient evil creature you would see on one of those kids anime.

"**Brat,"** it began. **"My name is Kurama and I'm the Nine-Tailed Fox. You better remember my name kid."**

"…Are you a tsundere," Naruto asked without thought before clapping his hand over his mouth. He heard laughter all over the room and saw the fox's brow twitch in annoyance.

"**First takes a jab at the ears and now he takes a jab at my personality,"** the fox mumbled, the disbelief clear in his voice. If it were an anime Naruto was sure Kurama would have been that character that drew lines on the ground in the corner when they were upset.

Naruto gave Shukaku a look and the tanuki read it rather easily. While laughing to himself the beast through Naruto at Kurama's back, allowing the whiskered blonde to land on the fox's soft fur. Standing up and walking up the fox's back carefully, Naruto finally reached his head and began scratching Kurama behind the ears. "Cheer up buddy," he said, feeling the urge to laugh as the fox started to let out a low rumble to signify he was enjoying having his ear scratched.

"**Don't you dare try to patronize me Naruto,"** growled the orange fox under Naruto's menstruations, his attempts to try and fight off the scratching being shown and failing miserably as his brethren and Ddraig watched on in amusement.

The blonde held a smile on the outside but on the inside could not figure out for the life of him how this had happened. He had come in here ready to be guns blazing if need be to get answers but as the beginning conversation had gone on he had felt his anger dissipate. He still had questions that he wanted answered but he felt as though he was caught up in a situation that was extremely familiar for him. Even after everything he had gone through in the past day being with them at this moment and smiling with them felt familiar to him. It made him happy.

The blonde moved up further long the fox beasts head toward the very edge near his face, his hand still reaching out and scratching the beings very large ear. He looked at all the beings in the room as they were him. Some of them were wearing smiles or what he believed to be smiles. Others, like Shukaku and Ddraig were outright grinning at the fact they probably had leverage to use against the fox now in what seemed to be their newly formed rivalry. Naruto heard Kurama groan happily under him and had to hold back a laugh as he sat down on top Kurama's furred head.

The whiskered teen cleared his throat, allowing everyone's attention to turn to him. "Well now that we got introductions out of the way and Kurama seems to be enjoying himself," the blonde began as he saw said beast bring up one of his massive paw-hands and flip him the middle finger, "I think it's time we begin. I was hoping you guys would be willing to talk to me about how you all are here. How are you here? I know how Ddraig is here because I put his gauntlet on but the rest of you I have no idea why you're here or why you've been making me feel crazy when I was a kid."

"**What are you talking about when you said we were making you feel crazy,"** asked Son Goku in confusion. **"We were just trying to talk to you kid. We weren't trying to make you feel crazy. We were just trying to get you to acknowledge our existence instead of just calling us voices in your head."**

"Really," the blonde asked defiantly. "Well then what about the other day when you were talking about some 'dream' I used to have or something? What was that about?"

"**Oh that,"** Matatabi clarified and then proceeded to glare a Shukaku with the rest of her brethren, causing Naruto to look in his direction as well. Said taunki was looking away from the main group, attempting to whistle from the looks of things. **"Well someone, and I'm not naming names, decided that it would be a good idea to pull a prank that day. And that someone proceeded to sound like a malicious madman while the rest of us were attempting to tell you that you had a dream. If it makes you feel any better that someone, that is to say the one who did it, got the sand beaten out of him after the fact and will get something much worse should he ever do it again." **Shukaku looked like he wanted to say something but was silenced with Matatabi's clawed paw slapping against the back of his head, causing him to groan in pain.

"**Besides kid we never tried to say anything mean to you,"** commented Gyūki from the side. **"If you remember every time we've talked to you we have never said anything cruel have we?"**

The blonde haired teen wanted to object but he thought about what the ushi-oni had said and looked back to the instance he could remember. Before the other day they had never said anything none sensible or meant to hurt him. If anything, from what he could remember, the most they had ever done was provide commentary about what he had been seeing or doing at the time. Another thing they had done was try to steer him from doing or being near dangerous things. They had never done or said anything to harm him at all and maybe, had he listened to them the other day, Issei would still be…

No, he couldn't have known. The doctors and his parents as a kid had told him not to listen to the voices in his head. They were supposed to be figments of his imagination and while he might have believed that before after what he'd seen fabrications of one's own mind were not supposed to be able to kill you or provide you with the magical ability to fight one of the biblical god's rebellious children. That's just not how the illusions worked damn it!

The blonde felt himself get upset and attempted to stop the line of thinking before he began to cry or the like. He needed to be strong now. He needed stability and the questions he had needed answers. Before even realizing it he had felt something rub against his cheek and noticed the tip of one of Kurama's giant clawed digits wiping away a trail of tears from his cheek very carefully. He could see one of Kurama's giant red orbs looking up at him with an almost said look.

"**Kid, I'm sorry about what happened,"** the fox said calmly, a hint of sorrow taking hidden among his deep baritone. **"He was your friend and, even for a pervert, deserved better than what he got. Unfortunately this is what happened and you have to live with it. But just know that no matter what happens we're here for you because even if you may think otherwise we are in this together."**

The teen could not help but be touched by Kurama's words. "Thanks I guess," Naruto mumbled as he calmed down some. He understood what the fox was saying or at least he thought he did. He wasn't alone in this and he had others he could lean on in support. He further composed himself as the big question came to mind. "Just what are you guys?"

**[I myself am quite curious as well,] **interjected the heavenly dragon from the other side of Kurama, choosing to finally speak up since their serious conversation began. **[I have heard and seen many things in my long existence but this situation is not one I've encountered before. Beasts like yourselves sealed into a human instead of sacred gears? The biblical god, with each of your levels of strength, would have attempted to put at least each one of you into a gear with how useful your individual abilities probably are.]** The dragon paused as he continued to look around the room at the tailed beasts. **[There is also the fact that I can tell that none of you are anything like animal yōkai I've met or seen before. Your forms are too different and your souls, despite differing ability sets, to similar to one another. Not even siblings like you all claim to be have souls like this. The fact remains that you are all anomalies to me and you could have plans for my partner that I will not stand.]**

"**No,"** cried Isobu piteously, something that sounded weird coming from a being of his size. **"We would never use Naruto for anything like that. He's our friend. We would never try to hurt him."**

"**The fact that you would even suggest such a thing offends me,"** said Kokuō, his normally polite tone taking a hard edge to it.

"**Yeah,"** shouted Chōmei angrily, wings buzzing behind him in a threating manner. **"If anything we should be asking what your plans are for Naruto! You're the new guy here and you could be unlucky, you know?"**

The dragon roared at them in annoyance. **[You believe me to be a threat,]** he asked in rage. **[I couldn't do anything to partner even if I wanted too and why would I even. He essentially acts as my avatar in the world now. Besides even if I wanted to my container is filled with so many failsafe's created by the biblical god that I would probably end up being deleted from existence completely. It's not worth it. I'll have you know…]**

"ENOUGH," shouted Naruto at the top of his lungs, abruptly bringing to conversation to a halt. "Look it's like Kurama said we are all in this together." The blonde turned his head toward the dragon. "Ddraig thank you for your concern. I know you're trying to protect me but I don't think they'll try to do anything to me."

**[And what makes you so sure,]** remarked the new addition to an already large cast of voices. **[If this is blind trust I would like to point out where that got you last time.]**

Naruto visibly cringed but responded in kind. "Your right but at the same time I…" he paused in thought. "I… I just have a feeling that they're good guy's you know. They don't seem like they would do anything to me. Also take into account that they could have if they'd tried. They've been talking to me for years so they could have done something by now. So please just give them a chance to explain Ddraig."

Said dragon stared at his new partner in silence before sighing loudly. **[Fine.]**

Naruto nodded at him before looking at the rest of the group again. "So now that has been dealt with I'll ask again: just what are you and how the heck did you guys get inside me."

"**It's not exactly that simple to answer Naruto,"** answered Saiken hesitantly, little bubbles flying from his opened mouth as he spoke. **"I mean if we told you then you probably wouldn't believe us."**

Naruto just stared at the slug with legs. "You're telling me that your existence is less believable than the fallen angels because if that's what you're getting at I call bullshit," the blonde deadpanned, a hint of frustration seeping into his tone. "At this point I'll believe anything you guy's throw at me. So come on lay it on me."

"**Would you believe we're aliens sent here to destroy the world by a powerful overlord and that you shall be the avatar of earth's final destruction,"** asked Shukaku gleefully as he clapped his two front paws together. His answer received a wide variety of annoyed stares from everyone in the room and began to sweat a bit under their harsh gazes. **"I… um… well he said he would believe anything at this point so I just wanted to see if it was true."** Their glowers continued to pierce through him. **"Please don't hurt me."**

"**Matatabi,"** stated Kurama simply as said cat nodded and slapped her paw across the back of Shukaku's head so hard he fell front first into the white floor space, cursing in pain. **"Please ignore Shukaku. He was dropped on his head off the side of a mountain as a child. I'm sure you understand."** Kurama continued to ignore his brother's shouts of indignation as he continued. **"As I'm sure you're already aware my brother's statement is false and completely asinine so let's get to the crux of the matter. Naruto the truth is we are afraid to tell you what we are because it is connected to what you are."**

The blonde adopted a look of confusion, his mouth forming a thin line. "You're afraid to tell me what you are because it's connected to what I am?" His mind tried to process the sentence he said and tried to figure it out but was unable. "What do I have to do with you besides the obvious? What am I that you're so afraid to tell me?" The tailed beasts looked away from him, even Shukaku from his place still on the floor. The blonde looked down at Kurama's face only to see his expression too becoming slightly downcast. "Why can't you tell me? What am I too you and you too me?"

"**Our friend,"** softly replied Kurama for himself and the others, causing the blonde's growing anger to dissipate and his eyes to soften somewhat. **"You were our friend and it's because you were our friend that were afraid if we tell you the truth that you will be hurt over it… over what happened."**

**[Why would he be hurt,]** asked Ddraig, his voice marred with confusion. **[What does your origins have to do with my partner?]**

Before Naruto could say anything, Matatabi interjected. **"Naruto,"** she called, bringing his attention to her. **"Do you remember what happened to you when you went to try and fight Raynare? Do you remember what you saw?"**

Naruto, not seeing where the question led, nodded. "Yeah," he replied in an unsure tone. "Some girl and I, as a preteen mind you, were talking about something weird. We were talking about my reasons for wanting to be strong and stuff, about me wanting to be top dog in my village or something. I really don't see what she meant when she asked the question to be honest. She said I was a ninja or something I think. What does that delusion have to do with anything?"

Matatabi just shook her head. **"Naruto… what if I told you that was not aberration but a memory?"**

Naruto just looked at the two tailed cat beast in confusion. "I would say you're crazy," the blonde replied quickly. "From the sound of things I would have been twelve, maybe thirteen in that supposed 'memory' but how could it be true. I can't remember something like that happening and I certainly don't remember being a ninja." He smiled to himself lightly, finding it to be slightly funny in light of the situation. "Me, a ninja, can you believe that I would really be a ninja…"

The whiskered blonde, while chuckling to himself, looked around the room to see all the tailed beasts still looking at him, expressions sad. Naruto felt a little sick. "Oh come on guys," he said to them openly. "Now you're just joking right? How can I be a ninja and why wouldn't I remember any of it? None of you are making any sense!" Looking down at Kurama's head he scratched it soothingly, suddenly thinking the fox needed to be relax. "Come on Kurama, tell them to cut out the joke because it isn't funny you know."

"**Naruto…"** he tried. **"Naruto there's a reason you don't remember…"**

"Just stop lying to me you damned bastard," The blonde suddenly shouted, water droplets hitting the red fur he was rubbing. "You know the reason I don't remember is because it never happened. That has to be right, you know so don't go lying to me…"

"**Naruto,"** the fox beast growled. **"Just stop. Just freaking stop. We're telling you why we can't tell you, why were afraid to tell you." **The beast felt a bit of water hit his fur but continued on anyway. **"Telling you this is hard enough as it is and you… you need to accept that it's true."**

"Then why can't I remember it," the blonde cried before it hit him like a train wreck. It became so obvious that in context it sounded preposterous. It was an absurdity that one only heard in novels and bad manga. "Are you telling me it's a case of amnesia? Are you stupid! I remember almost everything but the baby years in my life and you're telling me I for some reason don't remember being a supposed ninja?"

"**That's because it's not your first life," **stated Shukaku from his place on the floor. **"It's your second, not the first."**

**[That's impossible,]** remarked Ddraig, staring at the still downed tanuki. **[Reincarnation of Souls is a theory that was debunked long ago. Souls are the commodity of the various factions of this world. Only gods of who have a partial domain control of the afterlife are capable of controlling the flow of the dead. For that matter only the user of the Longinus [Sephiroth Graal] is capable of communing with the souls of the dead and truly understanding the soul itself. I can only name a few gods numbering on one of my claws that would have the ability to even give a soul a new vessel and none of them are anywhere near benevolent enough to do it that much I can tell you.]**

"**Trust me if you knew you would say differently but your correct when you say it wasn't a reincarnation scenario,"** Gyūki retorted calmly. **"The point is we are afraid that telling Naruto would make him relive his all his previous memories. Remembering them slowly over time is one thing but re-experiencing them in one go could be damaging. The mind would have trouble separating which memories are more up to date and which ones are from his past. We are deeply connected with his existence so finding out about us means finding out about him."**

"**Naruto I know that this must upset you and we're sorry but it's to protect you," **apologized Isobu quietly as he watched the blonde's head fall, his hair shadowing his eyes.

Naruto had trouble believing what he was hearing. The blonde had heard many things in the past day that had upset him. His friend had died in a horrible manner. He got attacked by a fallen angel in a freaking fedora and overcoat only to end up with the guy dead at the end of the battle. He had gotten suspended from school for a while after slapping a girl that made fun of Issei and had learned that from his teary eyed parents, learned that supernatural beings from the many different religions of the world existed, and finally got offered a freaking job as an agent for them. To top all of this off he had now learned that apparently that everything he had thought he knew about himself was not as true as it seemed…

"Fucking damn it," the blonde shouted, smacking his hand against Kurama's back in rage. If the beast had felt it he didn't say anything. Instead of taking it into account though the blonde just kept pounding away, his rage not lessoning. "Fucking damn it!"

After what felt like minutes to the blonde he felt his energy all but gone and just completely collapsed, sounds of his cries echoing throughout the room. All the other occupants just watched the scene in sadness, listening as his cries transformed into small sobs being drowned out by his face being thrown against Kurama's back. In a way it had been heart wrenching to them to see their friend in such a state. Even Ddraig, who would normally find such behavior to be unbecoming, did not have the heart to say so.

And then it just abruptly stopped. After about a minute it just stopped and silence permeated the chamber. At first they thought he might have fallen asleep or the like but that theory ended up being squashed when the blonde silently stood. His spiked locks still shadowed his face as the fresh tears still stained his cheeks. His hands were balled into tight fists.

"**Naruto…"** Chōmei tried only to be cut off.

"… Just not right now Chōmei," the teen said softly. "Just not right now. Can I just… can I just get out of here right now. I… I think I'm going to go for a walk."

"**Yes,"** replied Kurama, his tone equally soft. **"You can go for now. Just close your eyes tight and you'll be able to feel yourself wake up. We'll talk again when you're feeling better."**

Naruto did not respond and instead did as Kurama instructed. He closed his eyes tightly and relaxed his mind, letting his feelings fall to the back of his mind for now. In his relaxed state he concentrated a little bit and felt the world around him shift. Gone was the light feeling of being in the blank white room. Instead he felt slightly cold now and as he shifted slightly felt the leather of his desk chair scrunch up under the motion. Opening his eyes he looked around and saw that he had returned to his room, absentmindedly checking the time and finding that only a minute had passed since he had gone to talk to them.

He quickly got up and hurriedly went to his closet and grabbed his orange colored jacket, the only majorly orange thing his parents would let him have, and put it on over his school shirt and tie. He the proceeded to hurriedly walk out the door of his room and quickly down the stairs into the house corridor.

He could see his parents from the living room sitting and talking when they saw him come down the stairs in his jacket. His mother noticed his presence and quickly got up. "Naruto are you okay," she asked quickly before noticing his jacket. "Naruto where are you going at this time of night."

The blonde stopped in front of the entrance to the family room but could not directly look at her, his mind working a mile a minute. "I'm sorry mom but I just need some fresh air," he replied quickly before walking to the door and hurriedly opening and closing it before she could respond. He made his way out the front gate and down the street, walking at a steady pace and ignoring the lights above the street as he passed.

* * *

(Hours Later)

"It's a little cool out tonight," Naruto noted softly as he walked down the same street he had walked on previously that night. He had no idea how long he had been out and he honestly didn't care either. He just needed to be out doing something, to get his mind off things that he'd heard and seen. He need just a break from it all.

Could anyone blame him though? If they had known everything he had found out in the past day most of them would have been a sobbing mess on the floor… though he liked to ignore the fact that he had finally broken down in the mindscape when talking with the others. It had all just been too much after all; to essentially be told that "you don't know as much about yourself as you think" would basically be enough to make almost anyone upset. He was still upset by the situation if he wanted to be honest about it.

And in the end what did all of it mean if it was true? It meant little in context of things. Did the logical leap that he was adopted bother him? No because he had already known that little tidbit. His parents had sat him down years ago and told him that he had been adopted. His mother and father had been unable to conceive do to various health problems so they choose to adopt and picked him. The fact had upset him at first but he had grown to accept that he was adopted and even if he was it didn't mean they had loved him any less.

No what bothered him was simply the principle that despite all he thought he had known in reality he knew so very little and that part infuriated him to no end. Who was he then f he couldn't remember anything? Was he just some sort of cosmic joke?

He laughed to himself harshly. No he wasn't a joke. He was just a guy who had extremely bad luck it seemed. Then again if he had bad luck then maybe, now that he thought about it, a godly being whose domain involved luck could have cursed him. It would have made some sense then now that he thought about it with gods being real and all. Maybe that's why the tailed beasts were afraid to tell him the truth.

His breath hit the cold air and he could see the little bits of frozen condensation leave his mouth and he noticed his surroundings finally. He had probably walked around half of town by now. At first he had taken a path toward the park and walked around there for a bit. Found his and Issei's favorite spot and just sat there staring into the darkened woods for a while. Then after he had enough of that moved on to just walking the streets, playing kick the can or rock with the occasional ones he would find on the ground. Now though, now he had no idea where he was.

Looking for a street sign, he sighted one to find that he was about a ten minutes away from the market area and about fifty minutes on foot from his house. He was a bit away from his house that was for sure. His mother and father were probably worried about him now that he thought about it. He kind of had left a bit abruptly from his house and really did not say all that much to them on his way out.

He pulled out his phone and looked at the time. It was almost eleven o'clock at night. _"Geez,"_ he thought to himself, surprised at the time. _"I should probably get home. Mom is probably worried and may send Dad out to look for me."_ He pulled a lollypop out he had bought at a corner store out of his pocket and unwrapped it, quickly plopping it into his mouth. He sighed at the taste. "Mmmm, miso ramen flavored. The things that technology and flavoring machines can do never cease to amaze me anymore."

As he walked toward the next corner the blonde thought about trying to talk to Ddraig, Kurama, and the other tailed beasts again when he got home. He kind of owed them an apology for acting the way he was when he was trying to get answers out of them. In the end he essentially just broke down toward then end and acted like a brat toward them… it wasn't something they deserved even if they were keeping things from him. It was to protect him after all.

Now that he thought about it he hadn't eaten anything either… actually he hadn't eaten anything since this morning. He should also rectify that little problem when he got home too. He kind of needed to eat something or else he'd have to hear crap about how he hadn't eaten anything from his mother. She had nagged him about it one too many times when he was just a kid so he would prefer to avoid hearing the speech if he could. Maybe he should pick up some ramen while he was…

A blood curdling scream rang out through the air, causing him too suddenly stop and turning his head toward the street going right. "The scream came from that direction," he said absently as he glared down the street as a foreboding feeling washed over him. It felt natural, much like his own magic felt but much darker. He dare say that the feeling made the juices of his stomach sour slightly. "This feeling feels the same as when I fought Dohnaseek yesterday. I guess this is what it feels like when someone is using magic?"

**[Your right when you say that it feels like magic partner]** chimed Ddraig suddenly, alerting Naruto to the glowing green circle that appeared on his hand suddenly. The blonde lifted his arm closer to his face as he stared at the glowing circle. **[But as I'm sure you guessed that magic isn't human or like that of the fallen angel's last night. It feels more… wrong, doesn't it?]**

"Yeah," the teen replied while still staring down the street. "It feels unnatural…"

**[It's the magic of a devil]** Ddraig replied quickly only to cut himself off quickly again. **[Let me rephrase that. It's the magic of a devil but it feels almost like the older devils used to and not like the current ones.]**

"Old devils?" There were different kinds of devils? That's a first if he ever heard of one.

**[Allow me to explain something] **Ddraig began in the tone of someone who was about to try and explain something like a student would to a teacher. **[There are two types of devils these days. Pure born sons and daughters or those reborn through the Evil Piece System into servant devils.]**

"Evil Piece System," he asked quietly as he looked around in his pocket for the card Hayate gave him. He silently cursed, not finding the card in his pocket and remembering he had left it on his desk at home. Looking back down the street again he began to run to where he believed the noise came from. "You mentioned that last night as something that might have been able to revive Issei, right?"

**[Yes I did though that would only happen if a higher ranked devil found them worthy enough to join their race for whatever reason. It was a system I found out about around 200 years ago from an adventure with one of my previous partners. It was a system created to help increase the population of devils due to ones lost during the previous Great War.]**

"Great War," the blonde asked hastily, his feet clapping against the ground in succession. "What the heck is this Great War thing you're talking about?"

**[A story for another time] **replied the dragon just as quickly. **[The Great War is not a concern with what I'm going to tell you. While devils not given subservience to a devil of higher class don't have to worry about this devils who have been reborn do. A reborn devil needs to be near his or her master to for them to keep their powers in check until they are released from a devil's service. If they don't then their powers go haywire and they start eating humans for nourishment due to the hunger it creates. That is probably what we're dealing with… especially considering the feeling of the person's magic as well. For someone who had just awoken to their abilities I'm surprised you were able to tell.]**

"So am I." There was still no sign of anything from what he could tell. It was a fact that was infuriating him to no end.

**[So are you sure that this is a good idea for you to be running toward the source of that scream?]**

"Probably not."

**[Then why are you doing it again]** inquired the dragon in curiously. **[Shouldn't you be running in the opposite direction? Do I once again have to remind you that you just awoke your abilities yesterday for reference? Most new magic users are not stupid enough to pick a fight with something within the first day of using their magic.]**

"Well in case you forgot I'm a bit of an oddity already," the blonde shouted back over gale of wind blowing against him. "Why did it have to be so fucking windy tonight?"

**[Your just going to ignore what logic dictates aren't you] **asked the red welsh dryly, seemingly already knowing the answer to his question. Instead of being annoyed however he let out an encouraging laugh. **[Alright you survived last night! Let's see what you can do when it's you who picks the fight. I hope to see the same courage and daring that I did last night when you fight this beast!]**

Any other conversation however came to an abrupt halt when the blonde has stopped under a street light and found and stared at a small spot under the street light. "Blood," the teen whispered to himself. Sitting directly under the light was a large splatter of blood. The person who had lost it was apparently losing a lot of it too if its appearance said anything about it. He had only saw that amount once and that had been yesterday when his hands had been pierced by those light spears.

He looked around the area for any other clues. There were defiantly no signs of struggle anywhere and nothing of note was left behind from what he could tell. His mind worked a mile a minute as it thought of a scenario for what happened. If there was no struggle then that means the victim was cut off guard and or taken from behind. Either that or he was dealing with a devil that had was big enough or strong enough to keep the person they had attacked from touching the ground, handling them like they were just something light weight for them to throw around. If that were the case then where…

It was when he heard another scream and snapped his head to look down the street again that he found something that would help him find the devil who assaulted the target as well as the target itself. He had found small blood drops leading away from the large blood spot. A trail of blood would be how he would find them.

The concerned teen broke into a run, sprinting forward like fire was brushing his heels. "Ddraig," he shouted urgently, bringing his right arm forward. Green light covered his arm and the familiar visage of Welsh dragon's prison clamped down on his arm. "I need a boost!"

**[You got it partner]** the dragon's voice rang out, the green gem beginning to shine. The sound of the word **[Boost] **rang throughout the air. The blonde felt his magical reserves double as blue light surrounded his body and his body felt lighter. The world blurred slightly as his speed picked up and almost missed the quick left he had to hang to continue following the blood.

After a few minutes of following the trail he had come to a stop, finding that the trail of blood had disappeared finally. He growled to himself in annoyance and silently cursed his luck. It seems that it would be harder for him to find them now unless… He groaned silently to himself. Looks like his apology was going to have to come sooner then later.

"_Hey guys,"_ Naruto called out to the companions within him, hoping that they were listening. _"Look, I'm… I'm sorry okay. I know that I reacted badly to what you said. I… I was just upset when you told me all of that. So please I need your help. I need to know if one of you has the ability to track this devil. They took someone and now that person's life is on the line so if one of you has the ability to track this thing please help me!"_

There was no response for a second before the blonde heard a snort in his head. _**"You've always got to try and help someone, don't you,"**_ rang the voice of Kurama in his head. The blonde could hear a bit of amusement within his tone as well as another feeling he could not quite place. _**"Alright I've got your back Naruto. It will be just like old times. Reach out and bond with me. We'll track this thing down and kick its ass."**_

Naruto couldn't help but smirk at the statement as he closed his eyes and felt a power reaching out to him. The blonde couldn't help but smirk to himself as he opened his eyes again, a feeling that felt almost familiar to him washing over his being as he and Kurama formed their bond. Once again the magic that poured from his being has adopted a crimson color and it certainly fit his mood right about now. But as he was getting used to the feeling something suddenly hit him like a sudden migraine.

A major thing that had occurred for one was the fact that his vision was now tinted red. Everywhere he looked that had previously had no red coloring now had been colored that way ever so lightly. Another major thing that had alarmed him was that everywhere he looked around he could see little black wisps rising out of the ground. Some were rather small while others were large enough to be scene from a few blocks away. These things were all over the place. It was like he was looking at a completely different world, something that only he could see.

"_**That's partially correct,"**_ stated Kurama over their link, allowing the blonde to hear a tiny bit of smugness within his tone. _**"It's one of my many amazing one of a kind abilities! When you and I bond you gain the ability to sense, or see in this case, negative emotions. Do you see those little black wisps?"**_ The blond nodded absently. _**"Those little black wisps you see are a result of people in position of negative emotions passing through. The larger ones you see signify that area is probably where a person with those emotions reside."**_

"They're all over the place," the blonde stated allowed.

"_**Of course they are,"**_ the beast replied snappily. _**"All beings have negative emotions. No one living thing does not have them and that's why you can see them all over the place. What allows us to differentiate our targets from other people though is the ability to also get a feel of what these negative emotions are. Are they on the less harmful of the scale or are they the truly evil thoughts about killing or having killed someone? This is what allows us to tell the difference."**_

"_**Of course you could also mention that the ability used to be instinctive before,"**_ chimed in the voice of Shukaku. _**"You forgot to tell him the part where in the abilities translation over to magic it became less awesome because now you see the negative emotions instead of just being able to just tell!"**_

"_**Fuck you Shukaku,"**_ shouted back Kurama, his loud rumbling creating a migraine in Naruto's head. The blonde ignored them as they continued their little spat, looking searching for a place with strong negative emotions.

**[I see that fox gave you a useful ability to use]** commented Ddraig from Naruto's right arm. **[They truly are the weirdest bunch of creatures I've met that's for sure.]**

"Yeah, they kind of are aren't they," the whiskered teen replied as he finally saw a large plume of black rising in the distance behind a line of trees. Just staring at it made him feel like a lump had formed and dropped to the pit of his stomach. Whatever resided there was not normal and had a rather large dose of evil to top it off. If he had to guess that was where the victim had been carried off too as a meal for a stray devil.

The blonde quickly blurred his way down the street, moving slightly faster that if a normal person were to look they would probably barely notice something had been there. It was then that he noticed that if he were to continue at the pace he was going it would be a bit before he even made it to the forest.

Deciding to experiment a bit he jumped mid run to see how high he could go and found that he could jump almost as high as a second story house in combination of his abilities with a boost and Kurama's. Deciding to take a more scenic route the blonde quickly put the brakes on his run and abruptly stopped in front of a house and preforming a crouching jump, managing to launch himself onto the roof of the house as his feet slammed on the tiles.

Going into a run again the proclaimed Yakuza boy ran to the edge of the house before jumping onto the next roof over. He easily preformed the feat several more times on different homes before finally reaching the forested area, easily jumping down from the final house to the forest entrance. He knew he was going in the right direction because as he got closer to the black plume he felt the sense of foreboding increase.

"_**Well it seems you decided jumping roofs again would be a good idea,"**_ joked Gyūki slightly. _**"I swear it's like it's almost instinctual for you to do it, isn't it?"**_

"_**Is now really the time for you to be making jokes about things Naruto can't remember,"**_ reprimanded the stern voice of Kokuō. _**"We're walking right into another dangerous situation right after yesterday and you're making jokes?"**_

"_**Ah don't get you tails in a twist Hooves,"**_ crackled Shukaku happily. _**"The kid is just going to pick a fight. What's the worst that could happen?"**_

"_**Hooves, really,"**_ returned the dolphin horse wryly. _**"I had been lead to believe that jokes and nicknames were your specialty Shukaku. Instead I find something like that one falling rather flat instead. Are you having an off night?"**_

The blonde felt the urge to face palm as ran into the forest and straight toward where he saw the large black plume rising. As he ran he noticed the lack of wildlife in the area. This far out he would at least see some squirrels or the occasional raccoon dog but to him it appeared they had all been cleared out almost. Like they were just gone.

"_**It's possible that this stray could have hunted back here for a while in order to keep her existence here a secret,"**_ offered Kurama thoughtfully.

**[Indeed that would probably make the most amount of sense in this situation] **agreed the dragon within the gauntlet. **[I'm afraid I'm unaware of what devil family is in charge of this territory but it does not matter. From what little I know they're usually not very lenient with strays no matter what family it is. The stray trying to keep itself hidden would certainly work better.]**

"My question is why hide in this area," the blonde added to the conversation, reaching the end of the provided path and coming to the source of the large cloudof evil intent he had felt. The residence the stray had apparently held itself up in was an old styled looking four story building. It looked rundown and like no one had been there for years with all of the cracked and broken windows on the upper floors. The front space was in a similar amount of disrepair, old trees that had fallen down near them all broken down.

"_**That perhaps is the question of the century,"**_ the fox added to the conversation. _**"You would think they would be able to feed better in the city. More people, killings and disappearances not completely uncommon; is this devil stupid or something for coming here?"**_

**[Whatever the case it does not matter. A stray is here and that is all that matters in the end of all of this. My question is are you sure you still want to go through with this partner?]**

The blonde did not answer and instead choose to stare at a bloody hand print that had been left on left double door into the mansion. He could tell the person that had been taken had tried to grab the door with his hand because the bloody print trailed off to the doors edge going inward. He could almost imagine what the devil was doing to the person, various scenarios running through his mind like clockwork but it always fell back to one singular thought at the back of his mind.

"_Can you save this one?"_

It was a thought that had stayed in his mind like constantly since he had heard the scream. It weighed down on his mind, the idea always at its forefront. The simple fact of yesterday had been that he had lived and Issei had died. No matter how much time he had to process the fact it never felt like he had completely walked away from that church yesterday; a part of him had died. Maybe that part was the connection he had always felt with his friend? He was unsure but the fact remained: could he actually do anything for this person or would it be another failure on his part like with Issei?

He clenched his metal covered fist and walked to the front door. Then he did something he never thought he would ever do in his life.

He thrust his leg forward and kicked both sides of the double door of its hinges.

The doors flew to the back of the room before crashing into the concrete wall. Instead of being amazed by his own strength in that moment though the blonde took survey of the room. It looked like a room out of any old horror movie that he'd seen come from America on occasion. Wooden floors as far as the eye could see with old bland looking walls that looked like they had water damage. Then there was also the fact that the blonde couldn't see the ceiling due it being covered by the inky darkness that provided a feeling that made him wary.

Six ornate looking pillars lined the room three on each side and equally space. The one or two paintings present were crooked and broken photo frames littered the room's floor. There were no major light sources in the room and the only thing stopping it from being completely dark was the fact that the light of the moon shone through two old windows in the back.

He could see the stray. The source of all that evil he had been seeing.

"_**Now Naruto we have to be careful with how we do this…" **_began Gyūki only to be cut off by said blonde.

"Hey you fucking stray," Naruto shouted across the room at the being he just make out hiding behind the darkness of the corner. "Give me back that guy you took right now!"

"…_**Or we could throw any pretenses of subtly out the window because fuck subtly,"**_ replied a laughing Son Goku.

The blonde ignored that however as he watched something shift in the back slightly before throwing something at him. He had to dodge to the right as he watched the desecrated top half of a corpse land right where he had been standing. The corpse was that of a younger gentleman, probably in his twenties, his face forever frozen in one of agony. Any clothing he had worn had been stripped off and chunks of flesh were missing from the chest and arm areas.

The blonde felt lucky at the moment that he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast lest he throw it up at the scene. He could feel the bile from his unfed stomach trying to rise up and out his throat but he managed to hold it down. This… this was just sick. It was completely mangled and the person was almost unrecognizable. And then he realized something else that had made the feeling all the more worse.

"_You failed again."_

The words rang throughout his head to the point where he felt like screaming. Another person was dead! Another person he couldn't save. If he hadn't taken so long then maybe he would have still been alive. Maybe…

"Oh I'm sorry," a sultry feminine voice rang throughout the room, causing the blonde's currently crimson orbs to turn toward the corner where he knew the devil hid. "Were you looking for me to give you all of him? I'm sorry dear but you're going to have to wait a few weeks to get the rest of him back. Though if you want I could show you where the rest of him is. I'll even give you the privilege of joining him if you'd like."

The blonde growled as he saw the being slowly appear from behind the pillar, her lower half covered in shadow. Had the blonde not been so angry he might have noted how beautiful she looked top half wise. Pale creamy skin covered her toned flesh and large pert breasts. Her face was thin and to the normal eye would look magnificent, especially with her grey eyes and long flowing black hair running down her back. Set upon her face was a grin that managed a combination between seductive and borderline insanity.

The teen however did not care what she looked like. To him she was still one ugly bitch even if on the inside.

"You think this is funny," he snarled while pointing at the corpse lying on the ground next to him, the blonde unable to fully express what he was feeling. "You just killed an innocent person and you're cracking jokes?"

She waved scoffed lightly and waved her finely manicured hand in dismissal. "Please I wouldn't call him innocent," she said chidingly. "After I picked him up the young man kept trying to pray for help from some being above and promised he would never cheat on his girlfriend again if he was allowed to live. Personally I think both myself and the young woman should be satisfied that this person is no longer among us. She no longer has a boyfriend who cheats on her and me…" It was at this point that she smiled widely. "Well I get a free meal out of it. If you ask me it's a win-win for both of us."

The blond could only growl in response. "Ddraig, I'm going to need some more juice," he said testily. Instead of responding his gauntlet glowed and the word **[Boost]** reverberated throughout the building, allowing the blonde to feel his magic level once again skyrocket and cover his form. He knew this would be tough but he was going to fight anyway. Even if the guy was a scumbag like she had said that still didn't mean he had to die.

"Oh I see," the devil woman cooed. "You're going to try and fight me aren't you? I have to say though you have an enormous reserve of magic for a human. I wonder how it and you will taste." Two magic circles appeared in the air and she pushed her hands through them before pulling out two long yellow spears. "Since you are my next meal allow me to introduce myself as the chef who will be filleting you. My name is Viser and I am a stray devil formerly in service of house Vassago. May I know the name of the one who is about to become my next dish?"

"Go fuck yourself," was the blonde's elegant response.

"Humph, a little bit of exercise before a meal can be nice too," she replied in full, her body lurching forward as she began to bum rush him spears first. Naruto rolled out of the way and pushed off the ground when a spear tried to stab him. It was then that Naruto had managed to get a full look at the rest of her body and he had to say now that he had he was happy he hadn't fallen for any of her tricks.

The women's lower body was like that of a mutated centaur of some kind. Her main body was gigantic with four brown beastly looking legs, with each having sharp claws. To make the package look even weirder Viser had a snake-like scaly tail to top it all off. Combined with her top half it had looked like she had been on the receiving end of someone's chainsaw only to be stitched back together with what they had closest lying around.

Instead of commenting about her appearance he ducked under another spear strike before rushing under her body in a quick burst of speed. Jumping upward the blonde threw a right uppercut with his fist, managing to launch the beastly looking devil into the air slightly. While in the air she swatted at him with her clawed paw and smashed him into the wall, causing cracks to appear behind Naruto upon impact.

As soon as Viser hit the ground she threw one of her elongated spears at him. His eyes widened and pushed himself out of the law, narrowly avoiding the spear that had gotten stuck there. He dodged again as the other one was thrown where he had been standing. Viser roared and rushed him again, raising her left paw and bringing it down full force on him. Seeing this as his chance the blonde stood his ground and crouched with his hands up, braced for the impact.

When her paw finally got caught in his hands the blonde ignored the strain suddenly put on his muscles and pushed it up, knocking her off balance and making her fall over with her upper body lying down on its side. Quickly getting behind her the blonde wrapped his hands around her smooth tail and gripped tightly, earning a groan of pain from his opponent. He pulled and while at first he got traction he was not getting enough to lift her off the ground.

"_**Switch out Kurama's bond with mine then,"**_shouted Son Gokū proudly. _**"I think I've got just the thing that can help us out!"**_

"_If you think so," _the blonde responded quickly with a little struggle. _"Kurama, tag out."_

"_**Humph, got it,"**_ replied the fox as Naruto felt their connection end abruptly and felt the power increases as a result of their bond disappear making it a struggle to get a grip on the now struggling tail. The slight haze of red also left his vision but instead of saying anything he felt a new bond attach itself to him. In this bond he felt an immense sense of pride in strength. Suddenly he felt his muscles mass grow slightly and his began having an easier time pulling on the tail.

"_**Each tailed beast has something their better at then all the others outside the magic skills we provide,"**_ began the one who shared the name with the monkey sage of legend. As he talked the blonde slowly began to rotate using his strength, managing to pull a struggling Viser along the ground. _**"While Kurama is definitely strong in every major area he is not the best. I, for example, have immense physical strength and when combined with your already boosted strength… well I'm pretty sure you can figure that out."**_

The blonde nodded and began to spin in place faster, finally begin able to use the momentum to lift the stray from the ground. Finally letting go the blonde sent her crashing right through one of the walls in the back of the building, the rubbing flying out of the way as she managed to catch herself midair and land with her paws scraping across the ground.

Naruto gave her chase and jumped through the now open wall space, rushing Viser and dodging to the left before giving her a strong haymaker to the side of her body, sending her skidding across the ground. He jumped into the air and got ready to smack into her again only to hit from the side by her tail and sending him flying back toward the tree line. Using the reflexes and strength of Son Gokū the blonde gripped a large tree branch and swung himself down to the ground.

As his legs hit the soft patch of grass he noticed Viser's spears fly from within the building and into her open palms, causing her to send him a nasty grin. However instead of throwing them at him again she opted to try something different. She stuck her spears in the ground and brought her hands to her breasts while beginning to massage them, much to the blonds shock at the blatant display of public self-fondling. Before he could say anything however red circles began to spin around her breasts as her nipples hardened.

A light green putrid looking liquid spewed from her chest toward him, the teen ducked to the side as it flew passed him. Naruto heard a few cracks and looking back saw that whatever she had shot out of her breasts was acidic because half of the trunk was melted and now falling toward him. Bracing himself again he threw his hands up and caught trunk, unconsciously surprising himself even with his ability to do so and gave it a boost forward, sending it in Viser's direction as a distraction.

Viser merely knocked the tree out with one of her front paws before lunging at him, spears in hand. The blonde crouched and jumped over Viser onto the beastly back of her body, ramming his right foot down on her back and forcing her to the ground. She twisted the top half of her body slightly and stabbed one of the spears at him only for Naruto to twirl around it and get within range of her face, delivering a swift strike after strike to her jaw. He was only stopped when he felt something slimy wrap around his waist and fling him backwards into another tree.

Naruto pulled himself off the tree as Viser turned toward him rubbing her now bruised jaw with her left hand. "You little bastard," she screamed, her mouth contorting in anger. He noticed her teeth began to grow pointy and her eyes narrowed into angry filled slits. "You think that just because your eyes and magic change color that you can beat me? News flash for you brat: you're dead!" She rushed toward him once again full force, making the blonde wonder if she had learned that rushing him was not a good plan.

He ran to meet her half way, this time avoiding another set of spear strikes and sliding under her overly large body to get behind her. He avoided a strike from her tail and delivered a bone breaking kick to the back of her back left leg, a loud crack and even louder cry of pain echoing through the area. The blonde forced his leg in further into the back of her leg until he heard it snap under pressure. Viser fell forward to the ground without the functionality of her leg, moaning in pain.

While Viser licked her wounds however Naruto continued his assault, jumping onto her beast like back and rushing toward the top of her body. Grabbing her body before she could turn around Naruto gripped her left arm from behind and pulled on it tightly before driving his knee into her arm and breaking it in the process and forcing her spear to fall to the ground. Before he could do the other arm though Viser's tail once again made its existence known and forced him away as the stray screamed out in rage.

The youth landed on the ground and pulled the spear Viser had dropped from its spot on the earth, throwing it straight into the devil's right arm. The arm was sliced off in a giant shower of crimson blood drained out of the now detached arm and the stump where it had once been. The former Vassago devil let out another blood curdling scream as due to the loss of another limb. Her dying arm flailed around a bit but the blonde ignored that as he again got up close and delivered several shots to her chest cavity and abdomen, hearing a crack each and every blow signifying the breakage of bone.

He was about to deliver what he believed would have been the final blow when he suddenly felt a searing stabbing pain in his side. He grit his teeth and looked only to find that Viser's removed arm stabbing him nails first in the side, blood seeping from the wound onto his jacket and down to the ground below. He tried pulling it out only to find it stuck there as it sank further into his side, the pain forcing audible groans from him. He could feel the female devil's fingers wiggle around in his side, her nails trying to find some organs to cut.

"Fuck," he cursed as he continued to pull to no avail, watching as Viser began to regain coherence and slowly make attempts at getting up. "Shit how do I get this thing to fucking let go?"

"You don't brat," laughed the stray devil painfully with a dry chuckle as the devil's body began to glow lightly. "Those nails aren't just for show. They have a special kind of magic that make them hard to remove once they get dug into someone's flesh. You're not getting them out anytime soon." The blonde could hear snapping sounds coming from the beast portion of her legs and watched as they slowly began to straighten out. They were healing and the devil knew it was only a matter of time if the small sneer on her face was anything. She began to wiggle around her beastly legs and pushed off the ground, rising slowly as though she were an actress trying to make the mode more dramatic. She picked up the spear that remained at her side and limped toward him laughing the entire way. "It has been fun let's see if you can keep fighting when you have my hand still wounding you further constantly!"

He continued to futilely try to pull on the severed arm but found that the devil had not lied when she said he couldn't remove it. He growled to himself in anger and slight fear as she stalked toward him with her spear, the yellow rod being brushed against the ground back in forth playfully. _"So any ideas on how he get this fucking thing off?"_

**[Unfortunately there is not enough time for me to get a look at the blasted thing]** said the dragon of the gauntlet plainly, his voice showing almost no concern for the situation and annoying his blond partner.

"_Are you even fucking concerned about this situation?"_

**[Not in the slightest. When I asked you to be my partner I saw a will to survive in you. I think you'll pull the same thing even now if you would like me to be honest.]**

"…_I would almost be touched by your belief in me if we were not about to be skewered."_ Honestly despite how dry his reply was the teen would be touched. It was not every day someone got complemented by a supposedly incredibly powerful being that had the possibility to take on gods… then again he was still getting used to the concept of these beings actually existing so it wasn't saying much. _"Does anyone from the peanut gallery have any suggestions?"_

"_**Shukaku's the only nut in here,"**_ offhandedly replied Kurama, ignoring the dire straits they were in. _**"And, as for the situation, why don't you ask your buddy the monkey king. You know, that insufferable ape bastard you're bonded with right now instead of I don't know… me!"**_

"_**Are you really that sore about this,"**_ asked an incredulous sounding Gyūki.

"_**I was his partner before all of you,"**_ snapped back the fox irritably. _**"We were on a bonding level before any of you even showed up and when we bonded a few minutes ago for the first time in years it felt like coming home again. It felt like we were right back in the saddle again, together against the world."**_

"You know for someone who wasn't so forthcoming with information before you kind of do it offhandedly you fuzzy eared bastard," muttered the human receiver of his ire lightly with a roll of the eyes, still prying on the arm stuck in him.

"_**A home you had only learned to like only a day before 'we showed up' as you put it,"**_ pointed out Matatabi in a calm purr and completely ignoring Naruto's statement as had the rest of them. _**"From what I remember you were still grouchy about being there in the first place or was that you just showing your… what do these Japanese people call it? Aw yes you were still showing off the tsun of your tsundere side now weren't you."**_

"_**What,"**_ sputtered the giant fox beast as the others within Naruto's mind began to laugh at the reference. _**"You dare insinuate that I am like one of those females from those harem anime Naruto was forced to sit through with Issei? The ones Isobu had a secret fetish for?"**_

The blond could feel the back of his mind suddenly become eerily silent could almost imagine the shy turtle like beast rear back his head and attempt to hide in his shell. _**"Well… um,"**_ he tried only for the words to seemingly fail him. _**"Well I liked them for the story for the most part."**_

The silence purveyed until he head Gyūki sigh in annoyance. _**"It's always the quite ones isn't it,"**_ the beast mumbled loudly.

"_Look this conversation is great and all, really,"_ Naruto interrupted before they could continue further on, _"but I would like to remind everyone that we are about to be killed and eaten if we don't do something! So does anyone have a suggestion?"_

"_**We could burn this thing off,"**_ the handsome monkey king offered easily.

"_Yeah and how do we do that,"_ he shot back quickly, trying to ignore the pain in his side as he got read for Viser to come around again.

"_**Lava magic of course,"**_ he replied quickly as the teen began channeling magical energy around his hands in a manner he had done in the previous night. A small orange circle wrapped around his left hand and he suddenly felt liquid heat begin to wrap around it until it covered his hand. It felt warm to him, like someone had suddenly put his hand in a warm bath and just left it there. As the circle disappeared he could see why: his hand was covered in burning lava that fluidly moved along with his fingers as he wiggled them around.

He grinned to himself. _"I can work with this I think with this,"_ he thought to himself before gripping the arm stuck in his side. He heard his opponent scream and gripped harder as he watched the arm pull itself out of his side and wiggle around trying to escape, its fingers still coated with his fresh blood. He squeezed it harder and the skin began to crack like charcoal before throwing it away and jumping back as a spear stabbed his previous position.

"You stupid human," the large she-devil screamed as she pulled the spear back and stuck the still airborne blond in the stomach the rounded portion. "How dare you do this to me? One of the most beautiful women in the underworld?"

The blond landed with his molten covered arm outstretched across the ground and slowed to a halt, leaving five small trails of fire in its wake. He looked up at her and grimaced, sticking his tongue out in disgust. "Lady if your one of the most beautiful in the underworld then I have to make sure I never make it there cause if they all look like you then that isn't saying much now is it?" Instead of replying she just screamed at him rushed at him with murder in her eyes. _"Son we have something that can finish this right?"_

He could almost feel the beasts grin. _**"Oh we got something for her alright."**_

"_Then let's do it Son!"_ Rearing his armor clad arm back in preparation as it glowed. "Hit it Ddraig!"

**[Explosion!]**

"_**Let her fall to the intense might of our magic,"**_ roared Son Gokū as Naruto channeled his magic and smacked his gauntleted hand and molten rock covered hand together, forming an orange magic circle under his feet. The ground began to rumble and quake, cracks appearing beneath as the blond haired teen's new spell began to effect the area. The ground beneath the circle rock ruptured as an enormous amount of lava rose and began floating into the air. Even the lava from Naruto's left hand had removed itself and joined the molten rock flying through the air. The liquid heat formed a thin stream and traveled from the air to Naruto's gauntlet clad arm, wrapping around it while continuously flowing around it.

Rearing his leg back and pushing off the blond sprinted forward to meet her, jumping off the ground as her spear stuck into it and flying toward her. "Alright you bitch, eat this," he shouted in defiance, watching as her eye's widened in shock. "**Fist of the Monkey King!**"

Thrusting his fist forward he drove it into her flesh, causing her to scream in anguish as the molten rock burst right through her back in an explosive shower and causing her to collapse on her beast like knees. The large shot of magma continued into the tree line and after exploding against a tree cause everything within the vicinity to begin to catch fire. Viser's head finally ceased her screaming as her vocals abruptly died and her head fell forward, hair shadowing her eyes. Her mouth hung open as the last bits of spit produced by her body drained from her mouth to the ground below. As the last of the lava right his armor clad fist it had begun to smoke slightly as the cold night air brushed up against it.

Jumping back from her fallen body he landed on the ground and gazed upon her form, watching as her body continued to twitch slightly before coming to an abrupt stop. She was just a corpse now as far as he had been concerned. And it may have just been the adrenalin talking, but for some reason he was alright with that.

He let his sacred gear disappear and smiled slightly as he fell to his knees and continued to stare at the prone form of his enemy, watching as the body began to burn from the lava that was still tucked away inside her body. It was his small saving grace he supposed. The police might be able to explain a fire and cracks on the ground but the body of a giant devil woman, not so much. After everything he had seen tonight he was pretty sure now that he did not want anyone normal to see something like this if he could avoid it.

"_**Unfortunately I don't think that will completely melt her,"**_ noted Saiken lightly from within. _**"Besides to this the humans will react very quickly. They are not stupid. A fire at a secluded church and now at a secluded part of the forest will not be seen as just mere coincidences. They will begin to put two and two together."**_

"_**What do the two numbers equaling fish have to do with anything,"**_ asked Shukaku almost in a clueless tone, causing the others to groan.

"_**Truly brother you are remarkably daft aren't you,"**_ Kokuō stated dryly causing the beast with one tail to scream at him in return. _**"Ignoring that however, Naruto, it would be best if you got out of here before the humans get here… or any of its friends for that matter."**_

"_**You think something that ugly had friends,"**_ jested Shukaku in return.

"So that's what happened is it," the blond heard a voice say aloud from behind him, causing him to freeze up slightly. He knew that voice and turned almost mechanically to see the owner.

"… _**Shukaku you are no longer allowed to speak when fighting or finishing up a fight,"**_ stated Kurama simply, ignoring his containers freeze up. _**"I'm starting to think you opening that gaping hole you call a mouth is bringing us bad luck of some kind or another."**_

"Souna," Naruto breathed out. Staring at him, in the forefront of a large group of people, was the student council president who happened to be looking back at him with a rather stern expression.

"It seems we have a lot to talk about, don't we Naruto?"

(Life End)

* * *

(Preview)

Removal from the illusion creates awareness. Awareness creates clarity. With clarity comes knowledge and with that knowledge we are brought to a crossroads. What do you do with the knowledge that you've attained because once you know there is no going back. Will you be tempted? Wild you stand firm? The choice is yours.

Next Life: Choice

What will path will you walk young dragon?

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**So that was the long awaited chapter 5. You guys waited on it longer than you should have and for that I apologize profusely. All I ask is that you put down your pitch forks, torches, and stop sending those angry email… PM… things that I constantly get. Seriously I had someone threaten me… again. You know it's kind of flattering, funny, and a little disturbing at the same time to be threatened over this story but I guess that means I wrote something that people like. Kind of a shock to myself but I'll take what I can get. With that said here are just some notes on this chapter.**

**Naruto's Emotions: I'll admit trying to write the emotions in this chapter was really hard considering the fact I was having a problem trying to figure out the tone I wanted to take it with. I still feel like I missed the mark in that regard. Though my thought process was this: Naruto grew up with a family in this world. He grew up with people who loved him and took care of him. Unlike the Naruto who grew up by himself I could expect this one to be a little bratty as opposed to how he normally was. Let me know what you guys thought about hoe Naruto emoted here.**

**The Talk with the Tailed Beasts: Like Naruto's emotions this whole part was probably the hardest thing in this chapter to write. Naruto just realized he had other creatures living inside him that apparently know him in some manner outside just talking to him randomly at points in his life. It's a lot to take in for him and now they're apparently withholding information from him about himself; they're not telling him about something that he can't remember and are just waiting for him to experience it all again slowly through memories he'll experience. Expect to see a lot more like the Haku flashback in Chapter 2. Let me know your thoughts about how I handled the tailed beast situation.**

**The Fight Scene with Viser: So yes Naruto fought Viser instead of doing it with a peerage. Not that big a change but still a change none the less. Let me know what you think.**

**So I've already started on the next chapter and I hope to have it done as soon as possible… meaning not another year. A month at most and even I think that might be pushing it. Once again thanks for sticking with me and I hope to stop disappointing you so much.**

**DarkNaruto101**


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